What’s the longest row of consonants in a row that you can find in German?
The answer is 8.
- Angstschweiß
When you’re a beginner and you run into a cluster like this, it can be really intimidating. But I’d bet most of you have noticed that this is actually a compound noun.
- Angst+Schweiß (the sweat from fear)
And if your brain knows at least one of the parts, it’ll have a MUCH easier time parsing this. It’s almost as if the cluster doesn’t exist anymore.
There’s only one word that has 8 consonants, that ISN’T a a compound:
der Borschtsch
But that’s just the German spelling for the original Polish word barszcz, which is a really famous beetroot soup.
By the way, if you like consonant clusters (or soups) Eastern European languages have a lot to offer you.
I think the crown goes to Czeck, with this tongue twister:
“strč prst skrz krk”
Which fittingly means “Stick your finger through your throat.”