The German consonant 'g' in French loan words 

The 'g' consonant retains its original pronunciation in a number of words that have been imported from other languages. This is particularly true of loan words taken from French. Click either here or on the sound icon on the left to hear seven German words in which the letters '-age' appear. The words themselves are given in the box below along with their English translation:

Sounds 1: Imported '-age' words Garage (garage)    Reportage (report) Etage (floor of building)    Passage (passage) Blamage (embarrassment)    Rage (rage) Engagement (commitment)

This sound is also maintained in a number of words of French origin that contain the letters 'gi-'. Listen to the following imported 'gi-' words by either clicking here or on the sound icon on the left.

Sounds 2: Imported '-gi' words Regie (direction (film))    Regisseur (director) Regime (regime)

It is not always easy to distinguish between words that begin with 'Ge-', but which have deceptively different pronunciations. Note the different ways in which the first syllable of the following words is articulated by clicking either here or on the sound icon on the left. The first word in each pair retains its initial French consonant sound after being imported into German, whereas the second word in each pair starts with a /g/ phoneme. The words themselves are given in the box below along with their English translation:

Sounds 3: Imported 'ge-' words Genie (genius)    genial (inspired) Gelee (jelly)    Gel (gel) Genre (genre)    Gen (gene)

The consonant sound 'g' in English loan words 

A further group of German words have been imported from English and thus retain the English pronunciation of the 'g' consonant. Click either here or on the sound icon on the left to hear three such words:

Sounds 4: Loan words with English 'g' sounds Manager (manager)    Management (management) Teenager (teenager)

 How to pronounce German 'h'

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