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IPA says [ˈʃʀaɪ̯bn̩]
Is the "e" here fully suppressed? I thought there supposed to be a schwa sound here. It sounds "schreibn".
The same with the verbs machen and lachen in IPA it shows no schwa. Also in the word Laden but i can't spot the exact rule here.
Is there any rule to when the "e" is almost not heard?
Thanks
The word schreiben has a so called Reduktionssilbe. In such syllables, the Schwa is often reduced or even deleted in everyday speech.
reduced Schwa: -e, -em, -es, -est
reduced Tiefschwa: -er, -ern, -ert, -erst
no Schwa at all: -en, -el, -eln, -elt, -elst
Especially Southern speakers often delete the Schwa and replace the Tiefschwa with a.
Swiss German has it mixed, with the Schwa in leading syllables replaced by e. You can tell apart Swiss German speakers from other Alemanians (e.g. Germany's Freiburg region) by that one feature.
There are two different pronunciations for »schreiben« but non of them contains a vowel in its last syllable. Both contain a vocalized consonant. The two variations are:
When ever the consonant before an unstressed »∙en« at the end of a word is a stop-consonant, then the syllable is pronounced with a vocalized [n]. In some cases there is an additional second variation, either with a vocalized [m], a vocalized [ŋ] or a schwa. But the version with a vocalized [n] is always correct too.
Stop-consonants are:
If the last syllabe is an unstressed »∙ben« it is pronounced as [bn̩]:
If immediately before this unstressed syllable is the diphthong [aɪ̯] (most often written as »ei«, rarely written as »ai«, very rarely written as »ey« or »ay«) then many speakers speak a vocalized [m] instead of the vocalized [n]:
If the last syllabel is »∙pen« you also have a vocalized n, but sometimes you also find an additional version with a schwa or a vocalized m. But the vocalized n (without a real vowel) is always an option:
Always [n̩] for »∙den«:
and for »∙ten«, whereas you also can find a schwa sometimes:
Very similar is »∙gen«, but here you also can find a vocalized [ŋ] (ng in "sing")
»∙ken« also is spoken with vocalized n:
In comments you also asked for »Mädchen, Lenden, rechnen, laden« and »machen«:
»Lenden« and »laden« match the pattern above, so its:
»Mädchen« and »rechnen« do not match:
But »∙chen« needs some more explanation, as you can see here:
The rule is: When ch in »∙chen« is spoken as [χ], then »∙chen« is pronounced as [χn̩] or [χŋ̩]. But when it is [ç], then it always is [çən]
Note, that »ch« can be pronounced as [ç] like in »ich« [ɪç] or as [χ] like in »ach« [aχ]. (That's why those consonants are called *»Ich-Laut« and »Ach-Laut«)
Rule of thumb:
But when ch is in the diminutive-postfix »∙chen«, it is always pronounced as [ç], regardless of whatever stands before it.
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