Tono
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German (Germany) minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: Stadt and Staat

/a/vs/aː/

Hard for speakers of Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese, whose languages do not use vowel length, and for English speakers, who listen for a change in the vowel rather than its length.

The difference. Hold the long a about twice as long as the short one, and cut the short one off quickly with the consonants after it. The spelling tells you which: two consonants after the vowel mean short; one consonant, a double vowel or an h mean long.

Practice all pairs

9 word pairs

Say both words in each pair. If Tono colors one of them amber or red, that is the sound to work on.

Contrast sentences

Both sounds in one sentence: the real test of whether you can switch between them.

  1. Der Staat baut eine neue Stadt. Practice
  2. Er kam und suchte seinen Kamm. Practice
  3. Der Schal hängt am Haken im Stall. Practice

How to practice minimal pairs

  1. Listen to both words in Tono first, one after the other, until you can hear the difference.
  2. Say the pair slowly and exaggerate the difference. Check that both words come back green.
  3. Say the contrast sentences at normal speed. That is where the mix-up usually comes back.

More minimal pairs

English minimal pairsSpanish minimal pairsFrench minimal pairs