Stress

As a general rule the i rst syllable of a German word bears the stress, e.g. ankommen, Bruder, Rathaus, Wörterbuch.

The verbal prefixes be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, ver- and zer-, which are also found in nouns derived from verbs, are never stressed (compare the stress in ‘believe’, ‘release’, ‘forgive’ in English),
 e.g. Bezug, empfehlen, entkommen, erreichen, gestehen, Verkauf, zerbrechen.

Some additional verbal prei xes are not stressed, e.g. durchsuchen, vollenden, widersprechen, while others are, e.g. anrufen, ausgehen, wiedersehen .

Many foreign loanwords, usually of French origin, stress the i nal syllable as in the source language, e.g. Agent, Akzent, Bäckerei, kaputt, Partei, Pelikan, Philosoph, Planet, Satellit, Student. Loanwords ending in e stress the second last syllable,
e.g. Forelle, Garage, Kassette, Kusine.

Verbs ending in -ieren, mostly derived from French, are also stressed on the second last syllable,
e.g. buchstabieren, renovieren, studieren.