10 Difficult German Words and How to Pronounce Them

Here are our top 10 hardest German words and how to pronounce them!

The German language has a reputation for being quite aggressive and filled with words that are hard to pronounce. While there are several complicated German words, the language is also home to some beautiful German words, many of which express concepts that don’t exist in the English language.

So, why are there so many hard German words? It’s usually because of compound nouns. Compound nouns combine several different elements from singular nouns to form one, very specific noun. They’re a trademark of the German language. While the length of a word isn’t necessarily proportional to its difficulty, the sheer number of letters is enough to terrify even the most advanced language learner. Throw some funny-looking letters (and sounds) in there and you've got a recipe for a pretty hard language to pronounce. If you’re ready, let’s dive into some of the hardest German words to pronounce.

1. Eichhörnchen (Squirrel)

Although squirrel is also tough to pronounce in English, it’s a classic when it comes to difficult German words to pronounce. Many English speakers struggle, and some even consider this the hardest German word to pronounce. Before you make up your mind, wait until you see (and hear) the rest of the list.

2. Streichholzschachtel (Box of matches)

Want to ask someone for a box of matches? You better be prepared for a tongue twister! There’s a reason this makes the list of the hardest words in German. If you want to complicate it even further, add ‘chen’ to the end of it and an umlaut to the ‘a’ (ä). This turns the meaning into a small box of matches, which is written as Streichholzschächtelchen (though it looks like it should mean so much more.)

3. Freundschaftsbeziehungen (Friendship relations)

Another classic compound noun in the German language is the word for “friendship relations.” Breaking this word up, you’ve “Freundschaft” meaning friendship and “Beziehungen” meaning relations. Sometimes we love the logic of German, but that doesn’t make the pronunciation any easier!

4. Rührei (Scrambled eggs)

Every time we try to pronounce this one, it comes out as a strange sound rather than an actual word. The German ‘r’ at the beginning of the word followed by ‘ü’ is what makes this one hard to pronounce. In fact, this may be one of the most difficult German words to master. We are still practicing…

5. Arbeitslosigkeitsversicherung (Unemployment insurance)

Another brilliant logical compound noun here! Although this is the longest German word on the list, once you break it up into individual parts, it’s actually not that bad. The hard part comes when you try saying it all together as one word. Who knew a single word could be a tongue twister?

6. Röntgen (X-ray)

What’s more daunting than going for an x-ray? Some would say trying to pronounce the German word for an x-ray. In this case, you can blame Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the doctor who patented the procedure in the late 19th century. To honor his medical contribution, his name landed into the German dictionary as both a verb and a noun. Although a great honor, his name turned out to be one of the hard words in German!

7. Quietscheentchen (Rubber duck)

To help pronounce this one, remember that ‘qu’ is more of a ‘kv’ sound. With that, the breakdown would be “Quietsche” + “ent-chen.” Once you get the hang of it, it’s actually not that bad! In fact, this might be one of the easiest, hard to pronounce German words.

8. Tschechien (Czechia)

Ready for another one of our highly anticipated hard German words to pronounce? If you ever want to talk about vacation plans, you better prepare your mouth. Three consonants in a row is never a good sign, nevermind it being at the beginning of the word! cue facepalm

9. Kreuzschlitzschraubenzieher (Screwdriver)

This is one you definitely want to break up to help pronounce it more easily: Kreuz - schlitz - schrauben - zieher. Still, it may be the hardest word in German for many native English speakers.

10. Schlittschuhlaufen (Ice skating)

The tricky part of this German word is to not also pronounce “schuh” with an ‘l’ in there. Once you pronounce “schlitt” and “schuh” together over and over, you’ve already gotten the hang of this word!

Admittedly, the worst German words look very scary and hard to pronounce because we write them all together. However, the main tip for mastering those compound nouns is to break them up into component parts. Take each part slowly and then when you’ve got the hang of it, use your German accent to pronounce them all together. Once you’ve mastered them, put them into practice by speaking to a native speaker.

That’s exactly where Tandem comes in. With Tandem, it’s easy to find German language exchange partners to chat with. Whether that’s through video or audio calls, voice messages or texting, Tandem supports your individual learning style. With millions of members in the online community, you’re bound to find someone with similar interests to you, ensuring your language learning remains fun and motivating. Download our app today!

If you want to find out more about the German language, be sure to check out our article on learning German online.