German intonation

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In order decide which syllable is stressed in a German word, you have to know its origin. I distinguish between Germanic words and loan words from Greek, Latin, French and English, which constitute a major part of the German vocabulary. Note that any syllable can be stressed to put special emphasis on it. I mark stressed syllables by underlining them and secondary stress with an acúte áccent.

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Germanic words:

  1. Germanic words are usually stressed on the first syllable of their stem, i.e. prefixes and suffixes are not stressed.
    • Schule, Geschäft, bekommen, während, Verteidigung, magerer, Eitelkeit, brauchbar
  2. Some prefixes are always stressed: ab, an, auf, aus, bei, ein, empor, fort, los, mit, nach, nieder, un, ur, weg, weiter, wieder.
  3. The following prefixes are stressed if they are the only ones, but not if combined with another prefix: da, dar, her, hin, vor, zu.
    • hingehen, hineingehen, herkommen, herüberkommen, vorgehen, vorausgehen
  4. The suffixes ei and ieren are always stressed, miss and wider only in nouns.
    • Bäckerei, kopieren, widerstehen, Widerstand
  5. Acronyms are stressed on the last letter.
    • WC, VW, BMW
  6. In compound words, the first constituent is stressed. If the second constituent is a compound word itself, secondary stress is laid on the first subconstituent.
    • Baustelle, Wohnzimmer, himmelblau, Baustellenschíld, Großbáústelle, S-Bahn, ABC-Waffen
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Greek and Latin words

  1. Words of Greek or Latin origin are usually stressed on the last syllable (with secondary stress on the first).
    • Phílosoph, Phílosophie, Séísmograph, Télekommunikation, Ã?útomobil, ínternational, Diktat
  2. If a German affix is added, the rules for German affixes apply.
    • philosophisch, Séísmographen, Technikerin, weiterphilosophíéren, diktieren, diktatorisch, Diktatorinnen
  3. exceptions: Auto, Diktator, Kilométer, Telefon
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French and English words

  1. Words of French or English origin are stressed as in the original language. Compounds are stressed on the first constituent.
    • Restaurant, Cousin, Cousine, Rendezvous, Abonnement, Computer, Recycling, Countdown, Teenager
  2. If a German affix is added, the rules for German affixes apply.
    • Managerínnen, Champagner, Compúterisierung

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