![]() Please note that there are exceptions to this rule when a word ends in ‘ie’ (die Zeremonie – ceremony) but, equally, there are words ending in ‘ie’ which DO follow the rule of pronouncing the ‘e’ – such as die Familie (family), which is pronounced ‘Fam-eel-ee-eh’. ![]() This has led to me being called Constanz or Constance on more occasions than I care to remember! □ My German name (Constanze) has been pronounced incorrectly my entire life because here in the UK we don’t pronounce the ‘e’ on the end of words. Each time you see the letter e at the end of a German word, pronounce it with an ‘eh’ sound. The e on the end of English words is usually silent, but this is not the case in German. Pronounce both the P and the F, so the word begins with a ‘pfff’ sound. By now you may be able to guess what we do with it in German, though: Yep, that’s right. This is not a letter combination we have in English. In German, both the P and the S are pronounced, so the word begins with a ‘psss’ sound. In English, the P is silent, like in the English word PSYCHOLOGICAL. German word: psychologisch (psychological)Īgain, we have the same letter combination – ps – in Englsh, but it is pronounced differently in German. In German, both the K and the N are pronounced, and the K is hard. In English, the K is silent, like in the word KNEE. We have the same letter combination – kn – in English, but it is pronounced differently in German. ![]() Due to this, you’ll find that the same letter combinations are often pronounced differently in German to how they are in English. The brief answer is that silent letters are extremely rare in the German language! As a general rule, all letters are pronounced in German. ![]() ‘shh’ by airpix on under a CC license (CC BY 2.0) ![]()
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