German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "tschüss" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce tschüss in German?

tschüss is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tʃʏs/. It means “bye.” chuess — the ch of church, then a short ü made by saying 'ih' with the lips pushed into a whistle, then a sharp s.

chuess — the ch of church, then a short ü made by saying 'ih' with the lips pushed into a whistle, then a sharp s.

tschüss /tʃʏs/

One syllable with a short vowel, so the word is over almost before it begins. Speakers stretch it affectionately into tschüüüss or extend it to tschüssi — both play with the ü, which is where all the expressive room in this word lives.

Listen: tschüss

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Sound it out

tsch One sound, not four letters' worth: precisely the ch of church or match.

ü Short and front-rounded, German's hardest vowel for English ears. Say the i of sit and, without moving your tongue at all, purse your lips as if to whistle. The result is neither 'oo' nor 'ee' but genuinely both gestures at once.

ss Always an unvoiced hiss. Double s after a short vowel guarantees it never buzzes into a z.

Hear it in a sentence

Tschüss, bis morgen!

Bye, see you tomorrow!

Listen: Tschüss, bis morgen!

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Tschüss, bis morgen! pairs the goodbye with bis morgen, literally 'until tomorrow'. Bis ends in an unvoiced s and morgen collapses to a syllabic n, so the phrase runs 'biss MOR-gn'. Worth noticing: morgen with a small m is the adverb tomorrow, while der Morgen with a capital is the noun morning.

Where English speakers slip

Almost everyone starts with 'choose', substituting English oo for the ü because the lips feel about right. The lips are right; the tongue is not. Ü needs the tongue pushed forward to where it sits for 'ee' while the lips stay rounded, and leaving it back gives you a plain u. The second habit is voicing the final s into a z, which German never does after a short vowel written with ss.