The German Consonant: D
Just as the letter 'b', the German letter 'd' is pronounced exactly as in English when it appears at the start or the middle of a word. Click on the examples in the table below to hear how words having the letter 'd' appear at their start and in their middle are pronounced in the German language.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter 'd' in initial position | ||
| Ding - thing | dumm - dumb | denken - to think |
| dunkel - dark | Drama - drama | Dokument - document |
| Letter 'd' in medial position | ||
| Nadel - needle | Radar - radar | Bandit - bandit |
| adaptieren - to adapt | Händedruck - handshake | laden - to load |
Continuing its similarity to the German letter 'b', when the letter 'd' is placed at the end of a word, it's pronounced as the English letter 't'. Click on the examples in the table below to hear how words ending with the letter 'd' are pronounced in the German language.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter 'd' in final position | ||
| Hand - hand | Bild - picture | Wand - wall |
| bald - soon | Leid - sorrow | blind - blind |
To summarize, if the letter 'd' appears at the start or in the middle of a word, it's pronounced exactly as its English counterpart. If it appears at the end of a word, it's pronounced as the English 't'.