Why doesn't the "ch" pronunciation rule occur for words such as "durch" and "manchmal"?

Question

German has two different ways to realise ch phonetically:

One way (let's call this the hard realisation) like in Kuchen, lachen and kochen is similar to the Spanish J. I have learned that this pronounciation takes place whenever the ch is proceeded by one of the vowels o, a or u. (according to what Andrew website says here.)

The other way (let's call this the soft realisation) like in lächeln, frech, sicher, Küche, köcheln, räuchern, euch, takes place when the ch occurs in the middle syllable or at the end of a word when it is proceeded by one of the vowels/diphthongs ö, ä, ü, i, e, eu, äu, oi. This realisation is similar (but different) to the english realisation of sh.

To my eye, durch and manchmal seem to be exceptions from these rules: There, the ch is proceeded by one of the vowels listed in the rule for the "hard" realisation of ch (a or u in these cases), but still the realisation of ch is "soft". Why does the ch pronunciation rule not occur for words such as durch and manchmal? Are the words durch, manchmal and manche that have the "soft" realisation of ch, exceptions from this rule? Is there any other exception for that?

Answer 1

In your examples, the “ch” follows a consonant, the vowel before the consonant does not matter. After a consonant the pronunciation is like after a front vowel (like e).

And even though it was clear to me what you meant, the pronunciation of ch is rather different from English sh, and I am not even sure what pronunciation of English kh you had in mind.

Answer 2

If [x] or [ç] has to be pronounced at the beginning of a syllable, it is always [ç]:

Mädchen [ˈmɛːtçən]

When it is not at the beginning, it is [x] only if it is immediately preceded by the sounds [a], [o], [ɔ], [u] or [ʊ].

In all other cases [ç] is the right choice. This does not only mean, that after the other vowels you have to use [ç], but also after all consonants.

(Note, that there are exceptions for swiss dialects, where [x] might beused when it has to be [ç] in standard German.)

---

Vowels (monophthongs) before [x] or [ç]

• [i] → [ç]
  Viech [fiːç] (umgangssprachlich für Tier)
  siech [ziːç] (veraltet: sterbenskrank)
• [ɪ] → [ç]
  ich [ɪç]
  mich [mɪç]
  völlig [ˈfœlɪç] (Note, That in most regions …ig at the end of a syllable is spoken as […ɪç])
  häufig [ˈhɔɪ̯fɪç]
• [e] → ?
  no examples found for [x] or [ç] after [e]
• [ɛ] → [ç]
  Gespräch [ɡəˈʃpʁɛːç]
  Pech [pɛç]
• [a] → [x]
  nach [naːx]
  Bach [bax]
  Schach [ʃax]
• [ɐ] → ?
  no examples found for [x] or [ç] after [ɐ]
• [o] → [x]
  hoch [hoːx]
• [ɔ] → [x]
  noch [nɔx]
  doch [dɔx]
  Koch [kɔx]
• [u] → [x]
  Buch [buːx]
  Fluch [fluːx]
• [ʊ] → [x]
  huch [hʊx] (Ausruf)
  Bruch [bʁʊx]
• [y] → [ç]
  Bücher [ˈbyːçɐ]
• [ʏ] → [ç]
  Küche [ˈkʏçə]
  schüchtern [ˈʃʏçtɐn]
• [ø] → [ç]
  höchst [høːçst]
• [œ] → [ç]
  Köchin [ˈkœçɪn]
  Töchter [ˈtœçtɐ]

Diphthongs

• [aɪ̯] → [ç]
  reich [ʁaɪ̯ç]
  Teich [taɪ̯ç]
  Laich [laɪ̯ç]
• [ɔɪ̯] → [ç]
  euch [ɔɪ̯ç]
  feucht [fɔɪ̯çt]
• [aʊ̯] → [x]
  auch [aʊ̯x]
  Bauch [baʊ̯x]

Consonants

• [l] → [ç]
  Dolch [dɔlç]
  Mulch [mʊlç]
• [n] → [ç]
  manche [ˈmançə]
• [ʁ] → [ç]
  Arche [ˈaʁçə]
  durch [dʊʁç]
  Furcht [fʊʁçt]
  Storch [ʃtɔʁç]

There seem to be no German words with consonants other than [l], [n] and [ʁ] before [x] or [ç] within the same syllable.

Answer 3

As a native speaker, I was surprised during my research how complicated ch-pronounciation can get. There are actually 5 different ways to pronounce ch in German!

The many dialects do not help, for example Swiss German replaces basically every ch with [x] or [χ]. I have even heard something like Chemie with [kχ] on a Swiss Youtube channel.

However I think I was able to condense what I found for standard German into a reasonably simple algorithm:

Algorithm for determining ch-pronounciation

Preparation: Convert verbs to their base form (e. g. Du lachst. -> lachen; Machs gut! -> machen).

Then check the following cases, listed in descending priority:

1. Exceptions and Proper Names, for example:
   • Chemie or China: standard [ç], southern germany also [k], colloquially [ ​ʃ ]
   • Chiemsee (lake); Chemnitz, Cham (cities): [k]
   • Diminutive -chen: [ç]
   • ...
2. Foreign Words, for example:
   • French & Portugese: [​ ʃ ]
   • English & Spanish: [ t​ʃ ]
   • Italian & Greek: usually [k], in scholarly contexts may need to skip to next step
   • ...
3. ch before s is pronounced [k]
4. ch after velar vocals (a, o, u, au) is pronounced [x] or [χ]. No difference is made between the two.
5. else ch is pronounced [ç].

Examples

• Du wachst is first converted to wachen (to guard). Wachen is no exception, no proper name, no foreign word, has no ch before s, but a velar a before the ch. Therefore the pronounciation of du wachst is [x] or [χ].
• Du wachst may also convert to wachsen (to wax). Wachsen is no exception, no proper name, no foreign word but has a ch before s. Therefore, with this meaning, du wachst is pronounced with [k].
• Du wächst converts to wachsen (to grow). The argument is the same as above in wachsen (to wax) and so pronounciation in du wächst is [k].
• Durch is not a verb and therefore need not be converted. It is no exception or proper name, not a foreign word, has no ch before s, has no ch after velar vocal and therefore is pronounced [ç].
• Manchmal follows the same pattern as durch and is therefore pronounced [ç].
• Chöre is a noun and need not be converted. It is not a listed exception or proper name, but is a foreign word as it derives from Greek Chor. Since Chor is probably not used in a scholarly context pronounciation is [k].
• Gnocchi is a noun and need not be converted. It is not a listed exception or proper name, but is a foreign word and derives from Italian. Since this is not a scholarly word, pronounciation with [k] is in order. Of course, the word should be pronounced [ˈɲɔkːi] to avoid upsetting your Italian friends ;)
• Chip is an English word and therefore pronounced with [ t​ʃ ].
• Champignon is a French word and should therefore be pronounced with [ ʃ ].
• Bronchien (part of the lungs) is a scholarly used Greek word and skips the step assigning [k] to Greek words. Since in Bronchien ch is not before s or after a velar vocal, it should be pronounced [ç].
• Brachiosarus is a scholarly Greek word. It skips the usual step for Greek words and defers to step 4, because the velar vocal a appears before the ch. Pronounciation therefore is [x] or [χ].
• Autochen (diminutive of Auto) is pronounced [ç] according to the diminutive exception in case 1.

Sources

Main source for this was the German Wikipedia:

Ch (Digraph)

I tried to organize its info into a coherent and logical form.