Les een

Uitspraak
Pronunciation gives a language its distinct sound. Dutch is basically a phonetic language, therefore, once you know
the alphabet and how letters are combined in clusters to produce specific sounds, you will be able to look at any word
and pronounce it correctly.

Listening exercise 1.1

The Dutch alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and has 26 letters. Listen to the uitspraak (pronunciation) and
repeat after each letter.

a b c d e f g
h i j k l m n
o p q r s t u
v w x y z
The letters I and J can also be combined which then form one letter ij [pron. ay] called lange ij. Do not confuse ij
with y as they are two unrelated letters in modern Dutch.
The letter y actually has three pronunciations: Griekse IJ or I-Grek or Ypsilon. Foreign learners usually find
I-Grek easier to pronounce. In any case, all of them are correct.

Listening exercise 1.2

An easy way to remember the correct pronunciation is to divide them into 4 groups. Listen and repeat.

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

These three letters rhyme. These ten letters rhyme. They These seven letters are These six letters are
They all end with an [ah] all end with an [ay] sound. pronounced as in pronounced as in French.
sound. British-English.

a b f i
h c l q
k d m r
e n u
g o x
j s y
p z
t
v
w

1A. Fill in your particulars in and practise spelling them out loud.

1. (Your surname) ...................................................... 2. (Your first name(s) ..............................................................

3. (Your street name).................................................. 4. (Your boss full name) .........................................................

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Pronounciation
The following words demonstrate the correct pronunciation of vowel clusters (a, e, i , o, u) and consonant clusters (all
other letters) in Dutch.

Consonant clusters

Listening exercise 1.3

The following words are intended for learning Dutch pronunciation. It is not a vocabulary exercise, therefore the
translations should not be learned. Listen to the following consonant clusters and repeat.

ch and g Have the same sound as the ch in the German word Bach and is made by friction at the back
of the throat:
acht eight dag day, hello, goodbye
echt real(ly), genuine verslag report
Utrecht (city 40km southeast of Amsterdam) Den Haag (city 55km south of Amsterdam)

The cluster ch is also sometimes pronounced as in the English sh (many of French origin):
chef boss machine machine
chocola chocolate chic chic, classy
Chinees Chinese charmant charming

The cluster age is pronounced as in the word garage but the final e is clearly pronounced:
etage floor (of a building) garage garage
stage internship slijtage wear and tear

The following word is also pronounced as in French (word stress is underlined):

energie energy

sch At the beginning or in the middle of a word, this sound is s + ch:

school school misschien maybe
schiet op! hurry up! verschillend different
schrijven to write beschrijven to describe

At the end of a word, it has the same sound as an s:

fantastisch fantastic logisch logical
praktisch practical automatisch automatic
Grolsch brandname of a Dutch beer Den Bosch (city 80km southeast of Amsterdam)

ng Pronouned as in the English word sing:

lang long brengen to bring
gang corridor belangrijk important
Engels English vergadering meeting

EXCEPTION: The n and g are pronounced as separate entities in the following words:
ongeveer [on - ge - veer] approximately congres congress [kon gres]

w Pronounced as in the English letter v. The lips vibrate:

wat what werken to work
wanneer when willen to want
waarom why weten to know
wie who worden to become

At the end of a word, however, it is pronounced as in the English word white:

duw push nieuw new
uw your (polite form) nauw narrow

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r Always pronounced and always rolled:
rood red druk busy
warm warm,hot alarm alarm
spreken to speak werken to work
vragen to ask borg security payment

l When followed by a vowel, this letter is pronounced as in English:

loon salary bellen to ring, to telephone
halen to fetch verslag report

When followed by a consonant, it is always rolled:

melk milk half half
hulp help kalm calm

j Pronounced the same as the English letter y in the word you:

ja yes jaar year
jong young jij you (informal)
project project januari January

sj Pronounced the same as English sh as in shame:

sjaal scarf huisje small house, cottage
meisje girl sjabloon template

tj Pronounced the same as English ch as in church but softer.

een beetje a bit tafeltje small table
tja oh well tjonge jonge boy oh boy!

NOTE: The cluster sound is also produced between two words:

hoe heet je? whats your name? moet je? must you?

d and t At the end of a word, these letters both sound like a t.

land country want because
had had dat that
Nederland The Netherlands kant side

Vowel clusters

Listening exercise 1.4

Listen to the following vowel clusters and repeat.

aa Similar to the vowel sound in the word spa in British-English:

maar but straat street
afspraak appointment, date baan job; laneway (road)
gaan to go maand month

ee Similar to the vowel sound in the English word eight. The lips are stretched as if in a smile.
een a, an, one twee two
nee no (answer) geen not any
heel very thee tea

ie Similar to the vowel sound in the English word neat but shorter:
drie three vier four
tien ten hier here
jullie you all zien to see

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oo Similar to the vowel sound in show:
rood red loon wages, salary
telefoon telephone zoon son
schoon clean school school

uu Similar to the vowel sound in English word pure:

uur hour duur expensive
huur monthly rent muur wall
buurt neighbourhood apparatuur equipment

oe Similar to the vowel sound in pull:

moe tired moeten to have to
boek book doen to do
spoed urgent genoeg enough

eu Similar to the vowel sound in first as pronounced in British-English:

deur door leuk nice
beurt turn geur aroma, smell

Diphthongs

Listening exercise 1.5

Listen to the following diphtongs and repeat.

ei and ij These are both identical in pronunciation. Their sound is similar to the vowel sound in late and
when making this sound, the chin must drop slightly. To distinguish their spelling, ei is called
korte ei and ij is called lange ij. The letter ij is considered one letter in Dutch.

ei egg wij we
trein train jij you
mei May bedrijf company

aai This sound is a combination of aa and ie. It is similar to the sound in my:
saai boring lawaai noise
draaien to turn waaien to be windy

oei This sound is a combination of oe and ie:

doei see you, bye moeilijk difficult
boeiend fascinating groeien to grow

ooi This sound is a combination of oo and ie. It is similar to the sound in boy:
mooi beautiful fooi tip
zooi mess, shambles gooien to throw

ou / au These two diphtongs are identical in pronunciation. They are similar to the sound in shout:
nou now nauw narrow
zout salt gauw soon
getrouwd married blauw blue

eeuw This sound is a combination of ee and uu:

eeuw century sneeuw snow
leeuw lion Zeeuw from the Dutch province Zeeland

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ieuw This sound is a combination of ie and oe. It is similar to the British-English pronunciation of
new:

nieuw new benieuwd curious

vernieuwen to renew

ui This sound is one of the most difficult to pronounce. It is a combination of ou and je, except the
lips are tightly rounded and the tongue pressed against the bottom teeth.

ui onion uit out, from

huis house thuis at home
buiten outside buitenland abroad
lui lazy duizend thousand
zuid south uit het zuiden from the south

// The two dots are called a trema. It is used to split the diphthongs above:
Australi Australia Itali Italy
ideen ideas tweentwintig 22
genteresseerd interested genspireerd inspired
cordinator coordinator coperatief cooperative
renie reunion rune ancient ruin

Word pairs
Listening exercise 1.6
The following extra practice drills emphasise how important it is to make a clear distinction between the word pairs
whose vowels sound very similar, yet they are in meaning totally different. To foreigners such differences may be
difficult to hear, however, to a Dutch-speaker the distinctions are extremely important. Practise pronouncing the
following short and long vowels. Listen and repeat.

a / aa ram ram (male sheep) raam window

vak subject vaak often
had had haat hate
dat that daad deed
zat fed up, drunk zaad seed
vat barrel vaat washingup
gat hole gaat goes (verb)
nam took naam name
al already aal eel
o / oo bom bomb boom tree
bon voucher, receipt boon bean
pot pot poot animals paw
dof mat (colour) doof deaf
los loose loos false, empty, sly
ros reddish roos rose

uur / eur duur expensive deur door

buurt neighbourhood beurt turn
kuur course of treatment keur hallmark, selection
zuur sour zeur whine
guur raw weather geur scent

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ier / eer hier here heer gentleman
bier beer beer bear
vier four veer feather, ferry
mier ant meer more
wier seaweed weer weather
zier the least bit zeer very, sore
nier kidney neer down
lier lyre leer learn
pier wharf, pier peer peer

ij / ee zij she / they zee sea

begrijp understand begreep understood
schrijf write schreef wrote
pijn pain peen winter carrot
nijgen to bow negen nine
lijst list leest shoemakers last

Pronunciation of the shwa [? ] in unstressed syllables

There is one last vowel sound in Dutch which is referred to in Phonetics as the shwa. In dictionaries, this unstressed
vowel is written in brackets as [? ]. It is a short, weak vowel that occurs only in unstressed syllables (the syllable that
is not accented or stressed). It is like the English sound at the beginning of along or the unstressed form of the word
the.

All words in Dutch contain stressed syllables (underlined below) and unstressed syllables. Unstressed syllables are
always pronounced as a shwa, written in phonetic spelling as [? ]. Listen and repeat.

e de the deze this, these

hebben to have terug back
getrouwd married me / je / ze me / you / she / they

-en Most plural verbs and plural nouns end in -en. This final -en is also pronounced as a shwa
[? ]. The final letter n is not pronounced unless the following word begins with a vowel (a, e,
i , o ,u).
Zij werken bij BME. Zij werken op dezelfde afdeling.
(final n not pronounced) (final nis pronounced which forms a natural
bridge to the next word starting with a vowel)

een The stressed and unstressed pronunciation of this very significant word has two very different
meanings.
When stressed, it means the number 1 (one). To distinguish this in writing so as to avoid
confusion, it is often written with accents above both vowels as n.
When unstressed, it means a or an. It is pronounced like the final en in the English word
open.
Ik heb n auto. (stressed) I have one car. Ik heb een auto. (unstressed) I have a car.

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Suffixes
These are not words in their own right, but are simply fixed at the end of existing words to change the meaning or
grammatical function. In Dutch, the following suffixes are UNSTRESSED, which means that the suffix contains a
shwa sound.

-lijk vriendelijk kind, friendly moeilijk difficult

mogelijk possible onmogelijk impossible
zakelijk professional klantvriendelijk customer-friendly

-ig twintig twenty nodig needy, necessary

nuttig useful aardig kind, nice

Prefixes
These are not words in their own right, but are simply fixed to the front of existing words to change the meaning or
grammatical function. In Dutch, the following prefixes are UNSTRESSED, which means that the prefix contains a
shwa sound.

ge- gesprek conversation gebouw building

be- bedrijf company bespreking discussion, meeting
ver- verslag report vergadering meeting

The following prefix does not contain a shwasound. However, it is always unstressed.

ont- ontbijt breakfast ontslag resignation

English words pronounced the Dutch way

The Dutch language, like most other foreign languages, tends to adopt words from English. In many cases, although
the English word is used, it is pronounced the Dutch way [provided below in Dutch phonetics].

manager [pronounced mennedjer] manager plannen [pron. plennen] to plan

tram [pron. trem] tram @ [pron. et] at
slash [pron. slesj] slash sign /

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