German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "und" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce und in German?

und is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʊnt/. It means “and.” OONT, with the short rounded 'oo' of book and a final t — the written d hardens at the end of the word.

OONT, with the short rounded 'oo' of book and a final t — the written d hardens at the end of the word.

und /ʊnt/

Conjunctions like this one live permanently in the shadow of the words around them, and in fast speech und shrinks further, often to 'un' or barely more than a hummed n between two nouns. It never takes the sentence beat unless someone is spelling out a list with deliberate care.

Listen: und

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Sound it out

u Short 'oo' as in put or book. It is genuinely rounded, not the flat central vowel English gives the u in but.

n A plain n, tongue tip on the ridge behind the top teeth.

d Devoiced to t, because it sits at the end of the word. This is the same rule that turns Hund into 'hoont' and Kind into 'kint'.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich trinke Kaffee und Tee.

I drink coffee and tea.

Listen: Ich trinke Kaffee und Tee.

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Ich trinke Kaffee und Tee joins two nouns with no comma before und, which is the German rule and the opposite of the optional serial comma in English. Tee has a long 'ay' vowel from its doubled e, and both drinks stay capitalised as nouns even in the middle of a list.

Where English speakers slip

Learners pronounce the d, because it is written and because they have not yet internalised final devoicing. It comes out as t. The vowel misfires too: English speakers reach for the unrounded vowel of under, when German wants proper lip rounding on a short back 'oo'. Get both right and this tiny word stops sounding translated.