DUTCH SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION

Dutch spelling reform 2006

This chapter is not the most exciting way to begin learning Dutch grammar, but it is absolutely essential
for a good understanding of the more interesting chapters about verbs, nouns, word order, etc.

Correct spelling is a necessary base for everything else you will learn in this course. Read this chapter
thoroughly, and go back to it regularly when going through the rest of the course.

In the following sections, we will deal with both spelling and pronunciation. First, you will learn how to
divide a word into syllables. This may seem a trivial affair, but you will find that this is a very useful
starting point. Only after you have familiarized yourself with dividing words into syllables, will you be
able to determine how a word should be pronounced. A very useful website is www.woordenlijst.org.
Enter a Dutch word and the website shows you how it is divided into syllables.

THE DUTCH ALPHABET

We will start from scratch: The Dutch alphabet contains the same 26 letters as the English alphabet. This
is what the Dutch alphabet looks like in phonetics (IPA): [a] [be] [se] [de] [e] [ɛf] [ɣe] [ha] [i] [je] [ka]

[ɛɫ] [ɛm] [ɛn] [o] [pe] [ky] [ɛɾ] [ɛs] [te] [y] [ve] [ʋe] [ɪks] [ɛi] [zɛt] .

THE LETTER IJ

The 25th letter of the Dutch alphabet causes confusion among many Dutch learners. We now know that

the 25th letter is Y. But is it? Sometimes, the 25th letter is written as Y, sometimes as IJ.

In Dutch, the combination of i and j constitutes a vowel, which sounds a bit like English 'i' in 'hi': ij. Old

typewriters used to have a separate key for the letter ij but on modern keyboards, the Dutch have to

type two letters (i and j). Because the Dutch still regard ij as one letter, they always capitalize both I and

J if they occur at the beginning of a sentence or a proper name.

het IJsselmeer a Dutch lake

IJburg A district in Amsterdam

IJs smelt bij 0 graden Celsius. Ice melts at 0 degrees Celsius.

They normally pronounce 'y' as ’ie’ (see also vowel combinations) but when 'y' is mentioned When the

Dutch read the alphabet out loud, they say 'ij' even if they actually write 'y'. In the alphabet, it is always

pronounced as 'ij' vowel combinations again).

The letter "y" is not used in originally Dutch words; it only appears in borrowed words, e.g. baby, derby,

and lyceum. The letter "y" is also the only letter in the Dutch alphabet that is called by its name:

"Griekse y (Greek y)" or ypsilon (after the Greek letter).

SYLLABLES

Before we discuss the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, let us look at the syllables of a Dutch

word. First of all, understanding the way a Dutch word is divided into syllables is absolutely necessary

for correct spelling of Dutch words. Second, you need it to determine how a Dutch word is pronounced,

and third, if a word needs to be divided in two because it does not fit on one line, we need to break it off

at the border between two syllables. Enough reason not to skip this section, I would say.

DIVIDING A WORD INTO SYLLABLES

In Dutch, we do not use the same method for dividing words into syllables as in English. A word is

divided into syllables by its vowels. If two vowels are pronounced as one, we consider it one vowel.

Together with one or more consonants, each vowel (or combination of vowels) forms one syllable. So

where do we divide the word?

FOUR SYLLABLE RULES

Although the Dutch complain a lot about the spelling rules, the spelling system is really quite simple and

clear-cut compared to many other languages (English, for one!). There are a few general guidelines for

dividing a Dutch word into syllables. The four rules explained below hold true for most Dutch words.

Rule I

If two vowels are separated by only one consonant, the consonant forms the beginning of the second

syllable.

moeten moe-ten to have to

maken ma-ken to make

zeuren zeu-ren to nag, to whine

moeten, maken, zeuren

Rule II

If vowels are separated by more than one consonant, the first syllable gets one consonant, the second

the rest:

paarden paar-den horses

dingen din-gen things

wennen aan wen-nen to get used to

paarden, dingen, wennen

venster ven-ster window

enclave en-cla-ve enclave

obstinaat ob-sti-naat obstinate

venster, enclave, obstinaat

Rule III

A compound word consists of two or more separate words. We split the compound word at the

boundaries between the original words, thus leaving the original completely intact. We do the same

with words that are derived from nouns or verbs: vergeetachtig = vergeet + achtig (forgetful =

forget+ful).

waarom waar-om why not:

waa-rom

meeteenheid meet-een-heid unit of not:

measurement mee-teen-heid

broodoven brood-o-ven bread oven not:

broo-do-ven

koopakte koop-ak-te sales contract not:

koo-pak-te

huurauto huur-au-to rental car not:

huu-rau-to
waarom, meeteenheid, broodoven, koopakte, huurauto

Rule IV

"Ease of pronunciation"

This is what we do in general but if the next syllable starts with a sequence of consonants that is hard to

pronounce, we place one (or more, if necessary) of the consonants at the end of the preceding syllable.

What a Dutch speaker may find impossible to pronounce, may not be a challenge for someone with a

different mother tongue.

So what do Dutch speakers find difficult to pronounce? In general, they consider combinations like rts,

mbt, lfts or rwt hard to pronounce. Furthermore, a syllable never starts with two identical consonants.

You can read more about what Dutch speakers find difficult to pronounce in our forum topic: Syllables.

koortsig koort-sig feverish not: koor-tsig

ambtenaar amb-te-naar civil servant not: am-bte-naar

Delftse Delft-se from Delft not: Del-ftse/Delf-tse

erwten erw-ten peas not: er-wten

startten start-ten (we) started not: star-tten

koortsig, ambtenaar, Delftse, erwten, startten

These are the directions for dividing a word into syllables. There are some special words and types of

words that behave differently, but in general, you can rely on the rules mentioned above.

THE COMBINATION 'CH'

There is one consonant-combination that does not abide by the four syllable rules described before: ch.

This combination is never separated. It is another way of writing the letter g.* For this reason, we regard

is as a single consonant. The words below are therefore not separated by three consonants (c, h and t)

but by two (ch and t or r and ch).

 lachen la-chen to laugh

richel ri-chel ridge

zuchten zuch-ten to sigh

krachten krach-ten forces, energy

rechter rech-ter judge

monarchie mo-nar-chie monarchy

lachen, richel, zuchten, krachten, rechter, monarchie

And of course, observing the 4th rule: if ch is enveloped by consonants (e.g. 'rcht'), we place ch at the

end of the preceding syllable (like with koortsig, ambtenaar, etc.). If we do not do this, the second

syllable starts with ch + another consonant (which will generally make it hard to pronounce).

burchten burch-ten castles not: bur-chten

burchten

The reason why ch is considered to be one consonant is simple. Look what happens if we treat it as two

consonants: a word like lachen would be divided aslac-hen. This completely changes the pronunciation

of the separate syllables: as in English, the c at the end of a syllable is pronounced as k. We do get

another problem, being the length of the vowel but we will get to that later.

(*) There used to be a difference between the pronunciation of ch and g but nowadays, most Dutch

speakers no longer make this distinction. There is still a substantial minority of Dutch speakers –mainly

in Flanders- who pronounce chand g differently.

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

There are two suffixes and one type of prefix that always form a separate syllable, regardless of the

consonants that precede or follow after them.

The prefixes: be-, er-, ge-, her-, ont-, and ver-

besturen be-stu-ren to steer, to reign not: bes-tu-ren

gebruiken ge-brui-ken to use not: geb-rui-ken

ontaarden ont-aar-den to degenerate not: on-taar-den

besturen, gebruiken, ontaarden

The suffix: -ische for adjectives

Many Dutch adjectives end in -isch or -ische (inflected). It means something like English -ish.

If we look at -ische, 'i' and 'sche' are separate syllables (which is contrary to the Rules for dividing a word

into syllables). The consonant combination "sch" should normally be pronounced as English 'skh'. But in

this particular case, we only pronounce 's' (see also: Words with an irregular pronunciation). We

therefore consider 'sch' as one consonant and thus place it at the beginning of the next syllable.

Belgische Bel-gi-sche Belgian not: Bel-gis-che

egoïstische e-go-is-ti-sche selfish not: e-go-is-tis-che

Belgische, egoïstische

The suffix -thie for nouns and -thisch(e) for adjectives

These (Greek) endings are the equivalents of the English -thy (sympathy) and -thic. In Dutch, the h is not

pronounced, -thie simply sounds like the English tea.

We consider the consonant combination th as one. Recall, that when two vowels are divided by only

one consonant, the consonant is added to the next syllable.

sympathie sym-pa-thie sympathy not sym-pat-hie

empathische em-pa-thi-sche empathic not em-pat-his-che

sympathie, empathische

The suffix '-achtig'(e) for adjectives

'-achtig' is the Dutch translation for English '-like'

waarachtig waar-ach-tig truly not waa-rach-tig

reusachtig reus-ach-tig giant (-like) not reu-sach-tig

waarachtig, reusachtig

DIERESIS

If a vowel contains a dieresis, it forms the beginning of a new syllable. It is used to indicate where we

have to divide a double vowel or vowel combination into separate syllables. Without the dieresis, a

double vowel or vowel combination would make only one syllable.

e-go-is-ti-sch egoïstisch selfish

The oi in egoistisch would be pronounced as the English oy. If we give the i a dieresis, as in egoïstisch,

the oï is pronounced as the English ohwee.

re-eel reëel real, realistic

Without the dieresis, we would not know where to divide the sequence of e's into syllables. It could be

re-eel, but also ree-el.

 sym-pa-thie-en sympathieën sympathies, preferences

The same goes for sympathieën. Without the dieresis, we would not know how to choose between sym-

pa-thie-en and sym-pa-thi-een.

As you can read in the section about long vowels, the combination ui is pronounced as one long vowel.

In the word altruïstisch, we want to pronounce the u and the i as two separate vowels. To establish this,

we need to put a dieresis over the i.

without a dieresis (wrong!) altruistisch in separate syllables: al-truis-

tisch

with a dieresis: altruïstisch in separate syllables: al-tru-is-

tisch

egoïstisch, reëel, sympathieën, altruïstisch

When we break up a word at the end of a line in such a way that the syllable at the beginning of the

second line starts with the dieresis, we do not write the dieresis (it is already clear by the way the word

had been divided).

ego- re- sympathie- altru-

istisch eel en istisch

LONG VOWELS

Long vowels can be formed in three ways:

1. double vowel: two identical vowels in a row

2. single open vowel: a single vowel at the end of a syllable

3. vowel combination: two different vowels in a row that merge into (more or less) one vowel

With the exception of y, each vowel has a short and a long form:
 short a [ɑ] e [ɛ] i [ɪ] o [ɔ] u [ʏ]

long aa [a] ee [e] ie [i] oo [o] uu [y]

Note that long i is not formed by doubling the vowel, but by adding the letter e:ie.

DOUBLE VOWELS

Double vowels are long vowels. Even though they consist of two vowels, they are pronounced as one.

aa Pronounce like English 'a' but open your mouth (a lot!) wider: [a]
staan (to stand)
waar (true, where)
kaart (card, map)

ee Pronounce like English 'ai' in claim: [e]

zee (sea)
kleed (carpet)
been (leg)
geel (yellow)

But: pronounce like English 'ea' in beard when followed by the letter r:
meer (more)
zeer (very)
verkeerd (wrong)
heersen (to reign)

oo Pronounce like English 'oa' in boat: [oo]

rood (red)
hoofd (head)
groot (big)
troosten (to comfort)

But: when it precedes the letter r, pronounce like the English oo in door:[ɔː]
woord (word)
vermoorden (to kill)
noord (north)
Noors (Norwegian)

uu Pronounce like French 'u' in 'tu' or German 'ü' in Düsseldorf: [y]

vuur (fire)
uur (hour)
muur (wall)
duur (expensive)
debuut (debut)
OPEN SINGLE VOWELS

Determining whether a single vowel is long or short, requires a good knowledge of the rules for breaking

up a word into its syllables. If a syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel is always long.In the examples below,

the words are divided into syllables.

a [a]
ma-ken (to make)
wa-ter (water)
na (after)
dra (soon)

e [e]
we-ten (to know)
be-ter (better)
we-zen (creature)
be-zig (busy)

i [i]
a-li-bi (alibi)
po-li-tie (police)
mi-nis-ter (minister)
fi-na-le (final)

o [o]
ko-men (to come)
dro-gen (to dry)
bo-ten (boats)

But: when o precedes the letter r, it is pronounced as when oo precedes the

letter r: [ɔː]
sto-ren (to disturb)
ho-ren (to hear)
vo-ri-ge (previous)

u [y]
bu-ren (neighbours)
Tu-ne-si-e, Tunesië (Tunisia)
tri-bu-ne (tribune)

y [i]
In originally foreign words:
baby
derby
lyceum
NO OPEN DOUBLE VOWEL

The no-open-double-vowel rule is an important spelling rule you are advised to learn as soon as

possible. Although adults can and do make many spelling mistakes, disregarding this rule will make your

text look a bit childish.

A SYLLABLE NEVER ENDS IN A DOUBLE VOWEL

This is not necessary because a single vowel at the end of a syllable is already long. It does not need to

be doubled. As you will learn later, the letter e is an exception to this rule (double e). Indeed, one of

those nasty little exceptions, but you will appreciate that the reason for this is quite sensible.

VOWEL COMBINATIONS

Vowel combinations consist of two or three different vowels that are pronounced more or less as one

vowel. We treat the combination as one syllable (together with one or more consonants).

In Dutch, we have 16 vowel combinations. Some combinations perfectly merge into one new vowel,

while the synthesis of other combinations is less perfect. The important thing for you to know is that

they are all fixed combinations. You must learn the combination by heart: If two consecutive vowels are

not a fixed vowel combination, the vowels constitute two different syllables (along with a couple of

consonants).

The Dutch vowel combinations are:

aai eeu(w) ie oe ui
ae ei ieu(w) ou
ai eu ij oi
au ooi
oei
Combinations that consist of two vowels

ae This vowel combination occurs exclusively in old Dutch words. You will only find
it in proper names, especially in Flanders:

It is pronounced the same way as 'aa' [a]

meneer Claessen (Mr. Claessen)
mevrouw Haenen (Mrs. Haenen)

ai This is a rare vowel combination.

Pronounce like English i in wine. [ai]

hai (hi)
mais (corn; also spelled as maïs).

au Pronounce like the English ouin house [au]

gauw (soon)
grauw (greyish)
lauw (lukewarm)

ei This sound is a bit similar to the German ei in reisen, but pronounced a bit
'flatter' [ɛi] or [æi]
ei (egg)
beleid (policy)
bereiden (to prepare)
geit (goat)
trein (train)

eu Pronounce like French 'eu' in 'feu' or German ö in Köln [ø]

leuk (nice, funny)
neus (nose)
heup (hip)
treuzelen (to be slow)

But: if it precedes the letter r, pronounce like the English or in word [œ]
geur (smell)
kleur (colour)
zeuren (to whine)
deur (door)

ie Pronounce like ee in the English keep [i]

lief (sweet, dear)
bier (beer)
hier (here)
genieten van (to enjoy)
 ij* Same as ei [ɛi] or [æi]
wijs (wise)
blij (happy, glad)
grijs (grey)
tijd (time)

oe Pronounce like English oo in choose [u]

voelen (to feel)
goed (good)
zoet (sweet)
voet (foot)

oi A combination that you will seldom come across.

Pronounce like English oy in toy. [ɔi]
hoi (hi)

ou Same as au [au]
zout (salt)
vrouw (woman)
koud (cold)
nou (now)
stout (bad, naughty)

ui This sound is something between ou and eu [ay]

zuid (south)
bruin (brown)
fluiten (to whistle)
buiten (outside)

(*) Technically speaking, this is not a vowel combination, for it consists of a vowel (i) and a consonant (j).

Read more about the letter ij.

COMBINATIONS THAT CONSIST OF THREE VOWELS

There are a few vowel combinations that take three vowels, but again, are pronounced more or less as

one: Ooi, aai, and oei

The letter i at the end is pronounced like English y in yes.

aai [ai]
draai-en (to turn)
aai-en (to stroke)
maai-en (to mow)

oei [ui]
groei-en (to grow)
roei-en (to row)
ver-moeid (tired)

ooi [oi]
gooi-en (to throw)
mooi (beautiful)
ver-strooid (forgetful)

Ieu(w) and eeu(w)

These combinations are always followed by the consonant w.

Ieeuw is pronounced as English ee followed by an English w and eeuw as Englishay followed by w.

eeu [eːw]
leeu-wen (lions)
geeu-wen (to yawn)

ieu [iːw]

ver-nieu-wen (to renew)

kieu-wen (gills of a fish)
SHORT VOWELS

Short vowels are single vowels that are followed by one or more consonants within the same syllable.

Single vowels that are followed by ch but not within the same syllable (in the following one) are also

considered short vowels. This is a nasty little exception hardly worth mentioning, since so few words

face it. Nonetheless it must be mentioned.

When a word ends in a consonant, it is easy to see that the single vowel preceding this consonant is a

short vowel: the word fregat (frigate) ends in a consonant (t) and is preceded by a single vowel (a),

which is thus a short vowel.

Figuring out whether a vowel is short or long

If the single vowel is somewhere in the middle of a word, you need to divide the word into syllables to

see whether the vowel sits at the end of the syllable (long vowel) or whether it is followed by a

consonant within the same syllable (short vowel). What about the following vowels? Are they long or

short?
afmeting
af - me - ting

The letter a is followed by the letter f, and is thus a short vowel. The letter e is an open vowel, which

makes it a long vowel. The letter i is followed by the consonants ng and thus a short vowel.

PRONOUNCING SHORT VOWELS

a Pronounce like English u in but [ɑ]

zacht (soft)
zat (plenty, drunk)
gat (hole)
nat (wet)
kam (comb)
star (stiff, stubborn)
pakken (to get)
wachten (to wait)
wakker (awake)

e Pronounce like English e in let [ɛ]

gek (crazy)
 bestek (cutlery)
rem (brake)
stem (voice)
les (lesson)
spel (game)
merken (to notice)
wekker (alarm clock)
stekker (plug)
kelder (basement)

i Pronounce like English i in sit [ɪ]

wit (white)
Brit (a British man)
bezit (possession)
kin (chin)
gil (scream)
stil (silent)
wissen (to erase)
richten (to aim)
onmiddellijk (immediately)
winter (winter)

o Pronounce like English o in border, but shorter [O] en [ɔ]

los (loose, free)

vol (full)
zon (sun)
lot (fate)
zot (crazy)
stom (stupid)
donker (dark)
worden (to become)
slordig (untidy)

u Pronounce like English u in burden [ʏ]

kus (kiss)
Rus (a Russian)
zus (sister)
nut (use)
mug (mosquito)
vlug (quick)
tussen (between)
gulden (guilder)
 zuchten (to sigh)

y The same as English y in system [ɪ]

mys-te-rie (mystery)
sys-teem (system)
symp-toom (symptom)

VOWELS PRECEDING 'CH'

As you read on the page about syllables, the combination ch is treated as oneconsonant.
Lachen --> la - chen

As a consequence, a is an open vowel, which we would classify as a long vowel. But it is not! Just

remember, that every single vowel (as opposed to double vowels and vowel combinations) that

precedes ch is a short vowel.

Had the Dutch not decided to treat ch as one consonant, the division would have been: lac - hen. Here,

the a is safely enveloped by two consonants, and could thus be considered a short vowel.

THE LETTER 'E'

The letter e does not behave quite the same as the other vowels. There are two ways in which it

distinguishes itself from the rest:

1. If the letter e is unstressed, it is pronounced neither long nor short: It is amute e.

2. The letter e is the only vowel that is allowed in duplo at the end of a word (double ee).

THE MUTE 'E' (SCHWA)

Where other vowels that are placed at the end of a syllable are always long, the e requires a second

look. Important rule:

AN UNSTRESSED 'E' IS ALWAYS A 'MUTE E'

A mute e is pronounced as English 'e' in 'waited': 'e'. This is slightly distressing, as it is difficult for non-

native speakers to determine where the stress lies. However, good dictionaries indicate the position of

the stress. In this chapter, the stresses of all words that contain open e's will be underlined.

In the following examples, the stressed syllables are underlined and the mute e's are bold. It goes

without saying that stressed e's can be both long or short.

 verkennen to explore werkelijk really

wetende knowing rekenen to calculate

gevangen imprisoned bedelen to beg

betreurens-waardig deplorable bedelen to assign, to

distribute

verkennen, wetende, gevangen, betreurenswaardig, werkelijk, rekenen, bedelen, bedelen

Rule of thumb:

A SINGLE, OPEN E AT THE END OF A WORD IS ALWAYS MUTE.

Examples: gewoonte (habit), waarde (value), Bieneke (that's me), lengte(length), lente (spring)

DOUBLE E (EE)

On the previous page, we discussed the mute e. There is yet another peculiarity about the e:

THE LETTER 'E' IS THE ONLY VOWEL ALLOWED IN DUPLO AT THE END OF A WORD (EE).

The reason for this is related to the mute e. Remember the rule of thumb above that a single e at the

end of a word is always a mute e. So what if we want a word to end in a long e? The only way to

establish this is by writing e in duplo, violating the rule that a syllable never ends in two identical vowels.

Examples are: mee (along), thee (tea), wee (pain), zee (sea). Bear in mind that this only applies to a

long e at the end of a word!

DOUBLE EE WITHIN A WORD

There are (two) situations where ee forms the end of a syllable within a word.

 Compound word: a word is composed of a word that ends in ee plus another word.

mee-lo-pen consisting of the words to go/walk along

mee and lopen

thee-kop consisting of the words teacup

thee and kop

(*)The plural form of a noun that ends in ee

A plural is normally formed by adding -en to the singular.

wee-en - weeën (labour) pain zee-en - zeeën seas

Note the dieresis. meelopen, theekop, weeën, zeeën

MAINTAINING VOWEL LENGTH

In the previous paragraphs, you have learnt how to distinguish between long and short vowel words. In

general, long vowel words should stay long, regardless of any changes in the word (e.g. a singular noun

turning into a plural, or when you conjugate a verb's infinitive). The same goes for short vowel words.

In the following sections, we use the example of a plural and a singular noun to illustrate how a word

maintains its long or short vowel. Of course, this mechanism applies to all kinds of words (verbs,

adjectives, adverbs, etc.).

KEEPING VOWELS LONG

Plural nouns and the rule that a syllable never ends in a double vowel

As you will see later, the plural for a noun is usually formed by adding -en after the singular noun. Let us

consider the word maan (moon).

To form the plural, we add -en: maanen

If we break it up into syllables, we get: maa-nen

Following the rule about double vowels at the end of a syllable, we are not allowed to have the syllable

end in double aa. The reason for this is that a syllable that ends in one a is already considered to be a

long-vowel syllable (recall that a short vowel syllable always ends in a consonant). The second a is thus

redundant: we will simply omit the second a.

maanen --> ma-nen --> manen

KEEPING A LONG VOWEL WORD LONG

Suppose we do the exact opposite: we have a long vowel plural noun, and we have to turn it into a

singular noun.

Let us take the plural noun stenen (stones).

The first syllable has a long vowel, for if we divide the word into its syllables, we find that the first

syllable ends in a vowel (e):

stenen

To derive a singular noun from a plural, we need to subtract -en:

sten

Now, the syllable ends in a consonant (n). We know by now that if a syllable has a single vowel and ends

in a consonant, the vowel is a short one. The plural noun was, however, a long vowel word, which

generally means that the singular should be long too. In order to keep the singular noun long, we have

to add an extra vowel:

steen

Recall that all double vowels are long vowels.

KEEPING VOWELS SHORT

From singular to plural

Let us look at the singular noun stuk (piece). The word has a single, closed vowel: a short vowel word. To

turn it into a plural noun, we add -en:

stuken

To determine whether the newly formed plural noun has maintained its short vowel, we divide it

into syllables: stu-ken --> the first syllable ends in a vowel

Recall that a vowel at the end of a syllable is always a long vowel. Apparently, we turned the short

singular vowel into a long plural vowel. Because short vowel words must stay short, regardless of any

changes (e.g. from plural to singular), we have to make sure that the plural is short too. In order to

establish this, we simply add an extra consonant (k in this case) to the end of the first syllable:
stuk-ken

The syllable now has a single, closed vowel. In other words: it is a short vowel word.

From plural to singular

Now we will do it the other way around. We have a short-vowel plural noun:
katten (cats)

To turn it into a singular noun, we have to subtract -en:

katt

Recall that a word (or even syllable) never ends in two identical consonants. Therefore, we simply

subtract one of the consonants (t) and we get:

katt -> kat

CONSONANTS

When you produce a consonant, the breath of air that leaves your mouth is modified by a certain

'obstruction' that you create with your tongue or lips. This results in a sound that you could classify as

zooming, rattling, hissing, et cetera. Without this obstruction, you would be pronouncing a vowel. The

following consonants are pronounced roughly the same as in English:

b, c, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, s, t, x, y, z
The Dutch have three consonant combinations in which the separate consonants are merged into a new

sound: ch, sch, and ng.

b [b]
The same as in English.
breed (wide)
blauw (blue)
boven (above)

If it occurs at the end of a word, it is pronounced the same as the letter

'p'[p] (see below).
krab (crab)
kwab (lobe)
web (web)

c [s]
The same as in English.
Before i or e, we pronounce it like 's'.
centrum (centre)
cinema (cinema)
ceremonie (ceremony)

[k] In all other cases, this consonant sounds like 'k'.

calligrafie/kalligrafie (calligraphy)
cliënt (client)
creatief (creative)

d [d]
The same as in English.
dame (lady)
dief (thief)
dwerg (dwarf)

[t] If it appears at the end of a word, it is pronounced like 't' (see below).
hond (dog)
kleed (carpet)
land (land)

f [f]
The letter f sounds similar to v [v] and w [ʋ]. The same goes for English but the
Dutch pronounce these letters in a slightly different way. The Dutch v sounds
more like English f and the Dutch w is something between English w and v.
 Compare the three consonants:
fier (proud), vier (four), wier (seaweed)
fout (error), vouw (crease), woud (forrest)
Fin (Finnish person), vin (fin of a fish), win (as in "I win")
fraai (beautiful), vraag (question), wraak (revenge)

g [ɣ]
The famous Dutch guttural sound
geinig (funny)
grap (joke)
berg (mountain)

Some people find it hard to distinguish between g and h. Compare the following
pairs and see if you can hear the difference:
gaan (to go) / haan (rooster)
goed (good) / hoed (hat)
gier (vulture) / hier (here)
gek (crazy) / hek (fence)
gang (corridor) / hang (tendency)

Or try this tongue twister:

Het gaat heel goed (It is going really well)
In Flanders and in the southern part of the Netherlands, this consonant sounds
much softer [x].

h [h]
This letter is pronounced more or less the same as in English. An English speaker
tends to release more air while pronouncing it.
hoofd (head)
hals (throat)
hemel (heaven)

j [j]
Pronounce like English y in yellow
jarig (adjective for having one's birthday)
spiegeltje (little mirror)
jas (coat, jacket)

k [k]
The Dutch k sounds pretty much the same as the English k. The Dutch do not
release as much air as English speakers[kʰ].
koning (king)
kwaad (angry)
klein (small)
l There are (subtly) different ways to pronounce this consonant: Compare, for
example, lift and well. If this consonant occurs before a vowel, it is pronounced
'lighter' (with the tip of tongue) than when it is placed after a vowel.

Compare the two different types of l:

[l] At the beginning: lief (sweet), lid (member), lente (spring)
[ɫ] At the end: bril (glasses), deel (part), smal (narrow)

m [m]
The same as in English:
muis (mouse)
markt (market)
man (man)

n [n]
The same as in English:
naald (needle)
nooit (never)
niet (not)

p [p]
The letter p is pronounced more or less the same as in English. The English tend
to release more air [pʰ].
paard (horse)
pijn (pain)
plak (slice)

qu [kv]
The letter q only occurs in originally foreign words. It is always combined with
the vowel 'u'. The combination qu is pronounced the same as in English.
aquarium (aquarium)
quasi (quasi)
queeste (quest)
quiz (quiz)

r The Dutch use three different types of r. Before a vowel, you hear either a
'Spanish' [ɾ] or a 'French' r [ʁ]. Before a consonant or at the end of a word the
Dutch usually pronounce the 'English' r [ɹ]. Read more about the letter r on
Wikipedia. In the examples below, you will hear a Spanish and an English r
(English 'r' at the beginning of a word).
radar (radar) /ɾadɑɹ/
regendruppel (rain drop) /ɾeɣəndɾʏpəɫ/
verwarming (heating) /vəɹʋɑɹmɪŋ/

s [s]
The same as in English.
 stoom (steam)
slak (snail)
samen (together)

t [t]
The Dutch t is more or less the same as the English t. The English release more
air when they pronounce the letter t [tʰ].
taart (cake)
trein (train)
twaalf (twelve)

v [v]
The Dutch only make a very small distinction between v and f (see also 'f'
above). Pronounce like English f in half:
vader (father)
lever (liver)
vent (chap)

w [ʋ]
Pronounce like English v (see also the letter 'f' above).
wijzen (to point)
wortel (root)
bewoond (inhabited)

x [ks]
In Dutch, the letter x only appears in borrowed words. It is pronounced in
exactly the same way as in English.
extra (extra)
fixatie (fixation)
exact (exact)

y [j]
We pronounce this letter the same as in English.
The 'greek y', as the Dutch call this letter, only appears in foreign words. It is
listed both as a vowel and a consonant (like in English).

If it occurs before a vowel, we pronounce it the same as the letter 'j' (see
above).
rayon (disctrict, department)
royaal (generous)
coyote (coyote)

z [z]
This consonant has the same sound as in English. The Dutch, however, often
pronounce it as 's' (see above).
zalf (balm)
 zoen (kiss)
zwaan (swan)

Consonant combinations

ch [x]
When we combine c and h, we get a sound which is the same as the letter
'g' [ɣ] (see above). There are linguists who say that g and ch are (or should be)
pronounced differently but this is a distinction that hardly any Dutch speaker
makes.
licht (light)
bochel (hunch)
stichting (foundation)

sch [sx] or [sɣ]

The same as the above but preceded by 's':
schip (ship)
waarschijnlijk (probably)
schrander (clever)

ng [ŋ]
The English have the same letter combination: Pronounce as ng in king, long, or
string. Note, that it is never pronounced as ng in linger or tango.

wang (cheek)
zingen (to sing)
mengen (to mix)

The only important rule applied to consonants is:

A SYLLABLE NEVER ENDS IN TWO IDENTICAL CONSONANTS

English words like buzz, butt, Swiss, or fall would be impossible in the Dutch language. You only find it in

borrowed words like jazz or stress.

VOICED AND UNVOICED CONSONANTS

In Dutch, we have voiced and unvoiced consonants. The Dutch themselves often refer to them as 'hard'

(unvoiced) and 'soft' (voiced) consonants. A soft consonant is called 'voiced' because you need to use

your voice (vocal cords) to produce a sound. A hard (unvoiced) consonant can be produced even

without using your voice.

Each voiced consonant has a voiced counterpart. Examples are b and p and dand t.

As in many languages, including the English one, voiced consonants are sometimes replaced by their

unvoiced counterparts. Take the English word thief. In the plural, f turns into v: thieves.

Soft consonants v and z turning into hard f and s

A Dutch word never ends in the soft consonants z or v. Instead, we use their hard equivalents s and f.

Take, for example the word bazen (bosses). To get its singular, we subtract -en:
baz

You probably noticed that the long vowel turned into a short one (see rules for keeping words

short/long), so we add an extra a:

baaz

Following the rule that a Dutch word never ends in a z or v, we replace z by s:

baas

Examples:

Plural Singular Plural Singular

scherven (scatters) scherf druiven (grapes) druif

reuzen (giants) reus leuzen (slogans) leus

We apply the same principle to verbs. As you will read later on, to derive the verb stem from an

infinitive, you have to subtract -en.

Infinitive Stem Infinitive Stem

durven (to dare) durf blijven (to stay) blijf

wijzen (to point) wijs lezen (to read) lees

There are two more voiced-unvoiced consonant pairs: The voiced consonants d and b have t and p as

their unvoiced equivalents. If d is at the end of a word, we pronounce it as t, b is pronounced as p.

However, they are not actually replaced by their hard counterparts.

We could identify a third pair: Voiced g and unvoiced ch. Most Dutch speakers do not make a distinction

between the two of them.

IRREGULAR PRONUNCIATION

There are a few types of words that deviate from the pronunciation rules:

Een

The Dutch indefinite article een (English a or an) is written with a long ee. However, this ee is

pronounced as a mute e (as in English e in waited or ''full'). The Dutch word for one is één, which is

pronounced with a long ee. To make it a long ee, we use an acute accent. Note that this is an exception.

Normally, a double ee is pronounced as a long vowel, and does not need accents to make it long.

All adjectives that end in the suffix -lijk

In these words ij is pronounced like English e in waited:

fatsoenlijk decent eerlijk fair

vrolijk cheerful, happy werkelijk really

ongelooflijk incredible begrijpelijk understandable

Sometimes, the -lijk ending is not a suffix, so it is pronounced with the normal (long) ij:

je hebt gelijk you are right lijk corpse

All adjectives that end with the suffix -ig

i is pronounced like the English e in waited (or, in Dutch, mute e):

aardig kind nodig necessary

geldig valid zielig pitiful

hooghartig arrogant geduldig patient

All words that end in the suffix -tie

This suffix is pronounced as the English tsee:

politie police tolerantie tolerance

vakantie vacation emotie emotion

Where the Dutch say 'tsee', the Flemish only pronounce 'see'.

In the letter combination chtj, the letter t is not pronounced

zachtjes quietly, gently vachtje 'little' fur

zuchtje 'little' sigh luchtje 'little' smell,

perfume
When the word possesses the letter combination th, we only pronounce t

theologie theology empathie empathy

thee tea thema theme

All adjectives that end in the suffix -isch

We pronounce 'isch' simply as English ies in candies. So why don't the Dutch simply write 'ies'? They

have considered this option in the latest spelling revision, but the Dutch appeared to be too attached to

the old spelling form. Sticking to the old writing is of course a great compromise to the modern spelling

rules, because (1) the letter 'i' is written as a short vowel, but pronounced as a long one and (2) the

consonant combination 'sch' is reduced to a simple 's' in spoken language.

Russisch Russian islamitisch islamic

idealistisch idealistic egoïstisch selfish

Terug

In the word terug (back) e is not pronounced. So we say: trug.

Rode and goede

In the words rode (red) and goede (good) the letter d is pronounced as a Dutch j(or English y in Yankee ).

This is how it should be pronounced, but not everybody knows that.

In written Dutch, you may come across rooie and goeie, but this is only used in informal texts. The same

goes for goeiemorgen (good morning), goeiemiddag(good afternoon), goeienavond (good evening),

and goeienacht (good night), which should be written as goedemorgen, goedemiddag, goedenavond,

andgoedenacht.
ACCENTS AND APOSTROPHES

In Dutch, we use the following accents:

á Acute accent

ä Dieresis

a' Apostrophe

à Grave accent (rarely used)

â Circumflex accent (rarely used)

For an explanation of the dieresis, see dieresis.

Just like in Dutch, the apostrophe is commonly used in English, although not at all in the same way. The

acute accent is not used in English, though it may be known to those who have some knowledge of

French. The following pages are dedicated to the apostrophe and the acute accent.

The grave accent used to be a common accent in the Dutch language, but since the spelling reform in

the nineties, it is only used in a few borrowed French words. We also use it in the exclamation "Hè!",

which can mean several things. Followed by a question mark, it translates to English "What?!",

otherwise it means something along the lines of "Oh no!" or "Darn!"

The circumflex accent is also exclusively used for a handful of originally French words (debâcle).
ACCENT AIGU

In Dutch, we use this accent for different reasons:

 To stress a word in a phrase

If we want to emphasize a particular word in a sentence, we can use an acute accent. We place this

accent above the vowel we want to emphasize. If the syllable has two vowels, we place the acute accent

on both of them. However, we never put an acute accent over a capital letter.

Dat was háár ijsje. That was her ice cream.

Ik wil het nú! I want it now!

Dat is héél mooi. That is very nice.

Kán jij dat? Can you do that?

Tóé nou! Come on!

Die fiets is niet óúd, hij is níéuw!* That bike is not old, it is new!

(*) If a vowel combination consists of three vowels we only place accents over the first two vowels.

The accents tell you that you have to put more stress on the word. In general, this means that you have

to stretch the word a bit and use a slightly higher pitch. Do not exaggerate this.

You may find that sometimes, for short vowels, the accent grave is used, e.g. kàn jij dat? Even though it

is still quite common to use this accent, in the latest official spelling revision they decided to abolish the

grave accent from the Dutch language. This accent is only occasionally used for words with a French

origin. The same goes for the accent circonflex, e.g. debâcle (ruin, scandal).

 To distinguish een (a) from één (one)

Another function of the accent aigu is to distinguish the word één (one) from een ('a' or 'an')

Hij heeft een boek. He has a book.

Hij heeft één boek. He has one book.

Violating all rules, the article een is pronounced as if it had a mute e, while we can clearly see it should

be a long one (double vowel). The word één (one) is indeed pronounced as a long one.

 To indicate different meanings of voor (for)

We can also use it for the word voor (for, before). If we place two accent aigu's over oo, the word

means before, in the sense of time as well as place. If we do not use the accent, the word can mean

both for (as in for you ) and before. Note that it is not necessary to use the accent here, it is just often

done to avoid misunderstandings.

Ik zal vóór jou opstaan. I will get up before you.

Ik zal voor jou opstaan. I will get up for you.

 French words

We use the accent aigu over the letter e in words that are derived from French. The accent turns e into

a long vowel, where it otherwise would have been pronounced as a mute e (English the).

logé pronounce 'lozhay' (overnight) guest

coupé pronounce 'coopay' train compartment

paté (or: pâté) pronounce 'pahtay' paste, pate

oké pronounce 'okay' okay

THE APOSTROPHE

In Dutch, we use the apostrophe in the following cases:

To show that a letter has been omitted

zo'n (zo een) such a

'n (een) a, an

't (het) it

m'n (mijn) my

z'n (zijn) his

A'dam (Amsterdam) Amsterdam

's avonds (des avonds*) in the evening

's winters (des winters*) in the winter

's Gravenhage (des Gravenhage*) The Hague

(*) des is an old-fashioned Dutch form of "of the", which we do not use anymore. We still use it in some

common expressions, but mostly in abbreviated form with an apostrophe. Those of you who know

German will recognize the 2nd declension here.

To keep a vowel long when adding -s to a noun

If a noun ends in an unstressed vowel, its plural gets -s at the end. To keep the long vowel long, we use

an apostrophe. Recall, that if a single vowel sits in a syllable that ends in one or more consonants, it is

a short vowel).

collega's colleagues alibi's alibis

baby's babies accu's storage batteries

Not all vowels need an apostrophe to remain long:

logés (overnight) guests coupés train

compartments
The acute accent already tells us that the vowel is long - we do not need to keep it long by adding an

apostrophe.

schaapjes (little) sheep bloemetjes (little) flowers

The mute e at the end of schaapje is pronounced as English the. The sound does not change by adding

the letter s: the e is still mute.