How to pronounce sch and ch
The letters ch have two possible pronunciations:
lachen
to laugh (“hard” pronunciation)
rauchen
to smoke (“hard” pronunciation)
die Tochter
the daughter (“hard” pronunciation)
die Kirche
the church (“soft” pronunciation)
The letters sch are pronounced like an English “sh”:
der Schrank
the cupboard
der Schnee
the snow
die Kirsche
the cherry
schlafen
to sleep
Notes:
- It is sometimes difficult to tell whether a word is spelled with -ch- or -sch-. In these cases, it can be helpful to isolate the end of the syllable, especially when the ending -chen is added to refer to a smaller version of something. In such cases, we use the “ch” sound, not the “sh” sound. This is how to pronounce words that end in -s and have then had -chen added:
der Hase → das Häschen
the hare → the young hare
das Haus → das Häuschen
the house → the cottage
ein bisschen
a bit
- The word Ski (skiing) is an exception, as it comes from Norwegian and is pronounced like the English word “she”.
der Ski, die Skier
the ski, the skis
Ski fahren
to go skiing
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