German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "stark" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce stark in German?

stark is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʃtaʁk/. It means “strong.” SHTARK. At the start of a word st is always 'sht', and the r colours the a before the final k.

SHTARK. At the start of a word st is always 'sht', and the r colours the a before the final k.

stark /ʃtaʁk/

The comparative stärker fronts the vowel to ä without moving the stress at all. The word is also a grammatical term in German — starke Verben are the strong verbs — which is a small piece of trivia that makes the adjective easy to remember once you have met a few of them.

Listen: stark

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Sound it out

st 'sht' at the beginning of a word — a rule with no exceptions in standard German.

a A clipped open a, the tongue low and the lips relaxed.

r Before a consonant the uvular r darkens the vowel rather than standing alone, so ar comes out as a single dark sound.

k A crisp k closing the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Der Kaffee ist sehr stark.

The coffee is very strong.

Listen: Der Kaffee ist sehr stark.

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Der Kaffee ist sehr stark contains a perfect minimal contrast: ist ends in a plain st, and stark begins with a 'sht'. The two sit right next to each other, so you can hear that the rule is about position rather than about the letters themselves.

Where English speakers slip

Pronouncing the opening as a plain st is the standard beginner reading, and it is worth fixing early because sp- and st- words appear constantly. Say sh, then t. The r is the second matter: keep it at the back of the throat, where it merges with the vowel, rather than curling the tongue as an American speaker would.