German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "sollen" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce sollen in German?

sollen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈzɔ.lən/. It means “should / to be supposed to.” ZOL-en. The s buzzes like a z, the o is short and rounded, and the l stays bright.

ZOL-en. The s buzzes like a z, the o is short and rounded, and the l stays bright.

sollen /ˈzɔ.lən/

SOL- carries the beat, and this modal is unusual in having no umlaut anywhere in its forms — ich soll, du sollst, wir sollen all share the same plain short o. Where können and müssen swap their vowels between infinitive and singular, sollen simply does not, which makes it the easiest of the group to hear.

Listen: sollen

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Sound it out

s Voiced at the start of a word before a vowel.

o Short and rounded, close to the vowel in British hot. The doubled l keeps it short.

ll One bright, forward l — the doubling marks the vowel, not the consonant.

en The unstressed -en ending, its vowel reduced to a neutral 'uh'.

Hear it in a sentence

Was soll ich machen?

What should I do?

Listen: Was soll ich machen?

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Was soll ich machen? puts the question word first, the modal second, and the infinitive at the very end. Machen carries the throaty ach-laut, so the sentence closes on the sound English speakers find hardest — a useful reason to practise this exact question aloud.

Where English speakers slip

Hissing the s and darkening the l are the two sound habits, and both come straight from English. The meaning is the subtler trap: sollen covers should, ought to, and is supposed to, and learners reach for it when they want will or want to. Neither wollen nor werden is interchangeable with it, however similar the English translations feel.