Word Stress and Compound Words
German words usually stress the first syllable, prefixes like be- and ver- are never stressed, and long compound words put the weight on their first part. Learn the three rules that cover almost every word.
Rule one: stress the first syllable
In native German words, the stress normally falls on the FIRST syllable: ARbeiten (to work), MORgen (morning), ZIMmer (room). Stress means the syllable is a little louder, a little longer and a little higher — the rest of the word relaxes.
English speakers tend to spread stress too evenly. Instead, hit the first syllable clearly and let the ending fade: AR-bei-ten, not ar-BEI-ten. When in doubt with a new German word, stressing the first syllable is the safest guess.
arbeiten
to work
stress: AR-bei-ten
der Morgen
the morning
stress: MOR-gen
das Zimmer
the room
stress: ZIM-mer
Rule two: be-, ge-, ver- and ent- are never stressed
A small group of prefixes — be-, ge-, er-, ver-, ent- — never carry stress. The stress jumps to the next syllable: verSTEHen (to understand), beZAHlen (to pay), beSUchen (to visit).
These prefixes are extremely common, so this exception is worth memorising as a unit. If a word starts with be- or ver-, say the prefix quickly and quietly, then land on the syllable after it: ver-STAY-en, be-TSAH-len.
verstehen
to understand
stress: ver-STE-hen
bezahlen
to pay
stress: be-ZAH-len
besuchen
to visit
stress: be-SU-chen
Compound words: the first part wins
German famously glues nouns together: Bahn + Hof = der Bahnhof (railway station), Haus + Tür = die Haustür (front door). Two things to know.
First, the MEANING comes from the last part: a Haustür is a kind of Tür, not a kind of Haus. Second, the STRESS goes on the first part: BAHNhof, HAUStür, WOchenende, SUpermarkt. Hitting the first element hard is what makes a long compound instantly understandable to German ears — it signals "this is all one word".
der Bahnhof
the railway station
stress: BAHN-hof
die Haustür
the front door
stress: HAUS-tür
das Wochenende
the weekend
stress: WO-chen-en-de
der Supermarkt
the supermarket
stress: SU-per-markt
Loanwords play by their own rules
Words borrowed from French, Latin or Greek often keep a late stress: die MuSIK (music), das CaFÉ, die PoliZEI (police). You cannot predict these from spelling — learn the stress along with the word, the same way you learn its article.
A good habit from day one: whenever you meet a new word, say it out loud once with exaggerated stress. Word stress is not decoration in German; putting it in the wrong place can make even correctly pronounced sounds hard to understand.
die Musik
the music
stress: Mu-SIK
das Café
the café
stress: Ca-FÉ
die Polizei
the police
stress: Po-li-ZEI
Check yourself
Quick checks on this lesson. Get at least three quarters right to mark it as completed.
Where does the stress usually fall in a native German word?
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.