German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "schon" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce schon in German?

schon is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʃoːn/. It means “already.” SHOHN. sch is sh and the o is a long, pure back vowel — do not confuse it with schön, which has a rounded front ö.

SHOHN. sch is sh and the o is a long, pure back vowel — do not confuse it with schön, which has a rounded front ö.

schon /ʃoːn/

The word is usually unstressed in a sentence, because it works as a modal particle rather than a full adverb. That lightness is part of its character: schon adds a shade of 'already, as it happens' without ever drawing attention to itself.

Listen: schon

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Sound it out

sch Exactly the sh of English shine, written here with three letters.

o A long, steady 'oh' with no glide off the end. The single n after it signals the length.

n A clear closing n with the air released through the nose.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich habe schon gegessen.

I've already eaten.

Listen: Ich habe schon gegessen.

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Ich habe schon gegessen is in the perfect tense, with gegessen closing the sentence. The participle carries the unstressed ge- prefix and a doubled s marking the vowel short, and schon slots into the middle where German likes to park its small adverbs.

Where English speakers slip

The pairing with schön is the real hazard: one has a long back o and means already, the other has a long front-rounded ö and means beautiful. Confusing them is easy on the page and audible in speech. For this word, keep the lips rounded but the tongue back — the moment the tongue comes forward you have said the other word.