LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "stolz" in German?
SHTOLTS. St at the start is 'sht' and z is 'ts', so the word opens and closes with a cluster.
One beat with a cluster at each end and a single short vowel between them. Adding an adjective ending, as in stolze Eltern, gives the final ts somewhere to release and makes the word noticeably smoother — the bare form is the hardest one to say.
Listen: stolz
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Ich bin stolz auf dich.
I'm proud of you.
Listen: Ich bin stolz auf dich.
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Ich bin stolz auf dich uses the fixed combination stolz auf with the accusative, hence dich rather than dir. The preposition is not predictable from English, and the phrase appears often enough that learning it as a unit is worth the effort.
Where English speakers slip
Three sounds need attention in five letters: sh instead of s at the front, a bright l in the middle, and a full 'ts' at the end. Learners typically produce 'stolz' with an English s, a dark l and a buzzing z — which changes every consonant in the word.