Hello, I was working through some duolingo exercises (without audio) and got to a point when I thought it'd be great if I had some phonetic dictionary for German words

As in, when somebody says "ich verstehe Deutsche" I'd like to see how the word "verstehe" is phonetically spelled. I know we have these things for English, do we have something similar for German? Preferably, online?

@S.R.I like this: de.wiktionary.org/wiki/verstehen ?

@Takkat Great, thanks!

I should just have googled IPA German, but might have just wound up with beer ads! :P

@S.R.I beer is important in Germany ;)

[biːɐ̯]

das Bier

\o/

die Biere

@Takkat now that you're here, I wanted to ask a German speaker something

go ahead

How do you guys remember those genders around nouns? Rote memory?

we just learn them by heart - there is no rule to them.

I thought they were all too arbitrary to have any structure/logic

Over the first years in childhood we get so much used to when to use what that we don't have to think about it... only the rare nouns make problems.

When someone says "learn by heart", I can only imagine what an intimidating language teacher you must have had. :D

Sometimes even two genders are allowed.

canes and knuckles

Two genders, example please?

Das Cola - die Cola - it is always a debate between Germans and Austrians.

ahh

canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Nomen/Genus/… for many more

^^now in English

canoo.net looks like a good resource

Thanks!

@S.R.I yeah they probably are the best online when it comes to details of grammar

One more question, if I may - do you have etymology in german words? In English, I usually infer meaning by tracing etymology: somnambulance ==> somnum + ambulance ==> sleep + walking

@S.R.I same in german... check out dwds.de for etymology

> schlafen Vb. ‘sich in einem (physiologisch bedingten) Ruhezustand befinden, in dem die Wahrnehmung der Umwelt stark herabgesetzt, nahezu ausgeschaltet ist’. Das starke, ursprünglich reduplizierende Verb ahd. slāfan (um 800), mhd. slāfen, asächs. slāpan, mnd. mnl. slāpen, nl. slapen, afries. slēpa, aengl. slǣpan, engl. to sleep, got. slēpan (germ. *slēpan) gehört zu einer im Germ. reich entwickelten Wortgruppe.

> wandeln Vb. ‘(sich) ändern, langsam gehen, hin und her gehen’, ahd. wantalōn ‘(sich) hin und her wenden, sich mit etw. abgeben, mit jmdm. verkehren, handeln, ändern, verwandeln’ (8. Jh.), mhd. wandeln ‘rückgängig machen, tauschen, wechseln, ändern, wenden, gerichtlich verhandeln, Ersatz leisten, tadeln, strafen’, intrans. ‘wandern, reisen, gehen’, asächs. wandlon, mnd. mnl. wandelen ‘verändern, ...

= schlafwandeln

awesome! I thought it was just joining words together to make new words. Didn't realise you also do this

Apologies for my umlauts ==> fruhstuck ==> fruh + stuck ==> early + food ==> breakfast

Haustier ==> Haus + Tier ==> house + animal ==> pet

German is very good at building all kinds of compounds:

Frühstückstischdekoration

Haustierfutterversandhandel

brb

Awesome, now I can enjoy learning German. I have this room to help :-)

I thought this question was funny. How often do Germans stumble on to words like this?

Möp