German Minimal Pairs Trainer

Are you learning German? Are you overwhelmed by German’s large number of different sounds? You’re not alone. German has tons of sounds that are only slightly different, which is a huge problem for learners. How can you learn to hear the difference between “lösen” and “losen?” Or what about “Hütte” and “Hüte??”

Our German Minimal Pairs Trainer is specially built to help you tackle this difficult problem! The trainer carefully shows you dozens of sounds in German when compared to another similar sound, training your active listening skills. Whether you’re a beginner or intermediate learner, you’ll find this deck useful!

What's included

Native audio with a neutral accent from Germany
Interactive audio to train your ears to hear the sounds
Images to help you remember what you learned
Example sentences to help you learn with context
30-day money-back guarantee — you can return it for any reason

USD $9.99

(tax not included)

Get the Deck

About the deck

At Refold, we’re focused on teaching you to understand real German, as it’s actually spoken. Unfortunately, German has lots of weird features that make it hard to understand.

Why do you need to learn minimal pairs?

Every language has a set of sounds that it uses to make words. This is often called a “phonetic inventory” (if you want to be fancy). Words that only have one small difference in their pronunciation are called minimal pairs (for example, “sticken” and “Stücken,” or “Beten” and “betten”).

Speakers of a language can easily distinguish all the different sounds used in that language. After all, “Egge” and “Ecke” are different words!

But every language has a different set of sounds it considers to be “important.” So our brains learn to ignore the sounds that don’t matter. Which means that, if you want to learn another language, you have to retrain your brain to hear subtle differences between sounds, which might be incredibly easy (and important) to native speakers.

If you want to be able to understand and use German easily and naturally, you need to be able to hear the difference between “wann” and “Wahn!”

Introducing the German Minimal Pairs Trainer

Our German Minimal Pairs Trainer is made especially to help you understand German pronunciation as fast as possible.

We examined all the sounds that are used in German and used our years of experience in linguistics, phonology, and Second Language education to build a simple, useful and comprehensible minimal pairs trainer.

How to learn German Sounds

Study each of the minimal pairs.
Practice hearing the difference on your first try. Some are much harder than others.
Immerse in German media content! You’ll need to expose yourself to the language to notice and reinforce the listening skills you’re building.
Now that you’ve gotten a grasp on the sounds of German, everything will solidify in your head over time.

The hardest part of learning a language is basic comprehension. Once you can understand enough to have fun, you'll never want to stop.

Deck Bundles

Are you a lover of MANY languages? Get a sweet discount on Refold decks by buying them in a neat little bundle.

All Refold Decks English

All 13 English decks from Refold

Features of the deck

Ear Training

Test your ability to hear words, like a native can

Interactive Audio

Learn to hear the difference between sounds by comparing high quality recordings of each

Example Sentence

Learn everything in context, and remember it easier, thanks to vibrant images and example sentences, written and recorded by native speakers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this deck right for me?
This deck is most useful after you’ve already been learning for a little while. Especially if you find yourself struggling to hear the difference between very similar words. We built this deck specifically with more intermediate learners in mind, which is why there are no sentence translations, but a learner of every level can find it useful.
Which dialect/accent of German is used in this deck?
Standard German. The speaker, Michael Zironkin, natively speaks a dialect from Germany.
Does this deck include all sounds and spellings in Standard German (Hoch Deutsch)?
Not all the sounds are included. We only included sounds and sound pairs that cause learners trouble when learning to differentiate the sounds. Most of the sounds are covered, however.

Spellings are not included. If you want to learn how to read the complex English language, check out our German Reading Deck.
Are there any free resources I can use instead?
There are some online if you search for “German Minimal Pairs Training,” but they’re of varying quality. We were unhappy with the options available, especially since they’re not downloadable so that you can use the trainer in a way that works best for you. As far as we know, this is the only Anki deck with native audio for learning minimal pairs in German.
I finished the deck, now what?
Congrats! This is a single (but awesome) step in your German journey. Now you have to go listen to the language. A lot. We recommend reading and listening at the same time so that you are more aware of spellings AND pronunciation.

We also recommend that you continue to practice with the minimal pairs deck, making sure the information is fresh in your mind. Or, if you notice that a few of the pairs still give you trouble, review them or seek out more minimal pairs to practice with.