In German there is word stress and sentence intonation. The word stress shows which syllable in a word sounds stronger. The sentence melody shows how the voice in a sentence rises, falls, or stays level. There are differences in intonation because region, rate of speech, and situation can change the melody.

Many German words have a stressed syllable that is spoken more clearly and somewhat stronger. In simple words the accent is often on the first syllable, but not always. Loanwords and some fixed phrases have different patterns. Therefore it helps to learn the stress as part of the word.

In a sentence, important words can be spoken with stronger emphasis. Often these are nouns, verbs, adjectives, or new information. Small function words like articles, pronouns, or prepositions are often weaker. The exact strength can change when a word is especially important.

In simple statements, the voice often falls at the end of the sentence. This is a common pattern in neutral main clauses. The voice may rise slightly before and then fall. In some regions the final falling contour can sound weaker or later.

In questions there are two common patterns. Yes-no questions without a question word tend to rise at the end. Questions with question words tend to fall at the end, but small differences are possible too.

Exclamations often have a strong emphasis and a more pronounced melody. The voice can rise quickly and then fall. The exact pattern depends strongly on feeling and situation. Therefore there is more variation here than with neutral statements.

In simple main clauses, the strongest sentence emphasis often falls on an important word toward the end of the sentence. After that, the voice in statements usually falls. Previous words are often weaker if they are known or not very important. This pattern helps in understanding sentence structure.

Intonation is not the same everywhere. Region, rate of speaking, conversation situation, and personal habit can change the melody. Therefore the patterns in this module are common tendencies and not absolute rules. For learners it is important to recognize the basic patterns and use them appropriately.

You can now recognize the stressed syllable in simple German words. You can distinguish the sentence melody of statements, questions and exclamations. You can speak important words in a sentence more strongly and appropriately use simple intonation patterns in main clauses and question clauses.