The German "r" and "l"
The German r is made at the back of the throat and often melts into a vowel at the end of words. The German l is always light. Learn both with simple mouth tricks.
The r at the start: a gentle gargle
At the start of a word or syllable, the standard German r is made at the back of the throat (IPA ʁ) — roughly where you gargle water. It is a soft, friction-y rumble, not the English r of "red", where the tongue curls up in the middle of the mouth.
A practical way to find it: gargle a sip of water, remember where that vibration happens, then try to make a very short, dry version of it before a vowel. Start with rot (red). Do not worry about a strong Spanish-style trill; a light throaty rub is exactly right. In parts of Bavaria and Austria you will hear a rolled tongue-tip r instead — also correct, but the throaty r is the standard.
rot
red
die Reise
the trip, the journey
der Regen
the rain
The vanishing r
Here is the part most courses skip: at the END of a word or syllable, after a vowel, the German r usually stops being a consonant at all. It relaxes into a weak "ah" glide (a vocalised r, IPA ɐ). The extremely common ending -er sounds like a lazy "a": der Bruder is "BROO-da", not "BROO-derr".
The same happens after long vowels: die Uhr sounds like "oo-ah", nur like "noo-a". If you pronounce a full English r in these positions, you will be understood, but dropping it into a soft ah is what makes you sound natural.
der Bruder
the brother
-er sounds like a weak "a"
die Uhr
the clock
sounds like "oo-ah"
nur
only
der Lehrer
the teacher
first r is spoken, final -er melts to "a"
The light German l
English has two l-sounds: the light l of "light" and the dark, swallowed l of "ball" and "milk". German has only the light one. The tip of your tongue touches right behind your top front teeth, and the rest of the tongue stays flat and forward — in every position, even at the end of a word.
So viel (much) ends with the crisp l of "light", never the dark l of English "feel". Practise with die Lampe (the lamp), lernen (to learn) and viel, paying special attention to the final l.
die Lampe
the lamp
lernen
to learn
viel
much, a lot
final l stays light
r and l side by side
The best real-life test pair is links (left) and rechts (right) — you will use both constantly when asking for directions, and each one starts with one of today's sounds. Say them in alternation, slowly: light tongue-tip l, then throaty r.
Daily thirty-second drill: rot – links – rechts – lernen – der Bruder. Front tongue for l, back throat for r, and let every final -er and -r melt into that soft ah.
links
left
rechts
right
Check yourself
Quick checks on this lesson. Get at least three quarters right to mark it as completed.
Where is the standard German r made at the start of a word like "rot"?
Practise what you learned
Sound and word recordings on this page come from Wikimedia Commons contributors and are used under Creative Commons licences. See the audio credits for authors and sources.