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rot / Rad: initial r

CEFR A1

rot

/ʁoːt/

red

Rad

/ʁaːt/

wheel; bicycle

What tells the two sounds apart

  • [ʁ]Practice model: voiced back r; do not strain the throat.
  • [r]A tongue-tip trill is also a valid German variant.

Why it is hard

The written model uses a back r, which may differ from your usual English r. German has several valid r variants, so this is practice with a selected model, not a rule that every other r is wrong.

Das Rad ist rot.

To practise

  1. Reis/ʁaɪ̯s/rice
  2. Rose/ˈʁoːzə/rose
  3. rufen/ˈʁuːfən/call
  4. reisen/ˈʁaɪ̯zən/travel