LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "sich" in German?
ZIKH. The s buzzes like a z, and the ch is the same soft hiss as in ich.
Reflexive pronouns never take the beat; sich clings to its verb and passes straight through the rhythm of the sentence. Because it is so light, its position becomes the audible thing — it normally sits directly after the conjugated verb, and moving it elsewhere sounds wrong long before you can explain why.
Listen: sich
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Hear it in a sentence
Er freut sich sehr.
He is very pleased.
Listen: Er freut sich sehr.
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Er freut sich sehr works because freuen is reflexive in German — you cannot be pleased without a sich attached. The pronoun slots in right after the verb, and freut itself carries the eu diphthong, coming out 'froyt' with a devoiced final t that was never anything else.
Where English speakers slip
Two carry-overs land at once: the s gets hissed instead of buzzed, and the ch turns into a k or a sh. German voices s in front of a vowel at the start of a word, so this begins like the z of zebra. Pair the word with ich when you practise — they rhyme exactly, so whatever you fix in one automatically fixes the other.