German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "schwarz" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce schwarz in German?

schwarz is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʃvaʁts/. It means “black.” SHVARTS. Three spelling traps stacked in one word: sch is sh, w is v, z is ts.

SHVARTS. Three spelling traps stacked in one word: sch is sh, w is v, z is ts.

schwarz /ʃvaʁts/

The consonant pile-up makes this word feel longer than its single syllable, but there is only one vowel and only one beat. When endings arrive — schwarze Haare, ein schwarzes Auto — the extra syllable is unstressed schwa and the weight stays on the a.

Listen: schwarz

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Sound it out

sch The sh of English shoe. German writes this sound with three letters and never with sh.

w English v. So the word opens on 'shv', a cluster English does not have but which is easy once you stop expecting a w.

ar A short a coloured by the uvular r behind it, so the two run together into a single dark vowel.

z 'ts', as always. It gives the word a sharp, clipped ending.

Hear it in a sentence

Er hat schwarze Haare.

He has black hair.

Listen: Er hat schwarze Haare.

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Er hat schwarze Haare shows a German habit that surprises English speakers: hair is plural here, Haare, so the adjective takes the plural -e. The doubled a in Haare is a length marker, giving a long 'ah', and the whole word lands as 'HAH-ruh' with the r between the two syllables.

Where English speakers slip

The cluster 'shv' is the sticking point, and the usual repair is to smooth it into an English w: 'shwarts'. That w has to become a v, with the top teeth touching the bottom lip. The second habit is softening the final z into a buzz, giving 'shvarz' — German z is a hard 'ts' at the end of a word just as much as at the start.