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Alphabet and Pronunciation
In the first table of this chapter, the most common pronunciations of letters are shown.
The sound of a Dutch letter is compared to the sound of an English letter.
“Weak approximation” means that the sounds are not equal.
English words in the list are pronounced the British way. This means,
for example, that your lips have a small circular shape when you say the English
word dot or the Dutch word op. Sometimes, a Dutch
sound is compared to a Spanish, French or German sound.
Vowels are letters that have more sound and clearness than the other letters. In the
first column of the table, all vowels are in red font. The letters g, j and ch are interesting too. The
sound files contain names of Dutch towns and villages.
Pronunciation in Words
Pronunciation of aa, ee, oo, and eu
The vowels aa, ee, oo, or eu are pronounced as
shown in the list. When these vowels are followed
by an r, the pronunciation is slightly different. See the
Vowel Practice.
Pronunciation of e (like mess), e (like hurtle), and e (like may)
In this small example, syllables with a mess sound are in red font. Syllables with a
hurtle sound are blue. Never stress them if possible.
When an e is in black font, the sound of the vowel is like in may. That is also the common pronunciation
of the Dutch ee.
het (the), en (and), hem (him), fles (bottle), met (with), werd (became), er (there, here)
verder (further), hebben (to have)
de (the), een (a, an, one), me (me), je (jou), ze (she), we (we), te (to)
deze (this, these), geven (to give), leven (to live)
thee (tea), zee (sea), mee (with), één (one), heeft (has)
over (over, above), onder (under), praatte (talked), ruilde (exchanged)
andere (other), Nederland (The Netherlands)
Pronunciation of ei and ij
ei and ij are pronounced the same. In the sound file  IJsselstein
the sound is heard two times, because ei and ij are both in it.
This is an approximation of the sound:
Say “light” and “late”.
Then say the vowels only: “i” and “a”. ei is somewhere in between.
Say “iaiaia” (English vowels) until the two sounds become one.
This is a method to approximate ei (and ij).
Note: It is better to produce an English i-sound than an
English ay-sound, because the ay-sound is already occupied by another
vowel. So, if you miss it, do it on the i side. If you use it in a (long)
sentence, you will be more than likely understood.
Pronunciation of ui
The pronunciation of ui can be heard in this sound file: Sluis.
The sound is difficult to describe. You need to hear it to be able to say it.
To pronounce the Dutch word uit (out), you can try this approximation:
Say “oyt” (as in Lloyd, but the t is sharp).
Then open your mouth wide and say “oyt” again. Then you will approximate
uit some more.
Then try to say that sound without opening your mouth that wide, as dull and soft as
possible.
It is not correct, but it is better to say “oyt” than “yout”. Listen to native
speakers to get hold of the pronunciation.
Pronunciation of uu
If you want to pronounce uu you can listen to one of these sound files:
Wijk bij Duurstede.
Buren.
Culemborg.
Another approach is this:
Say the English word when
stretch the w. A long sound, almost like buzzing, is the result.
Open your mouth just a little more. Now you are approximating the uu sound.
Less Frequent Pronunciations
In the first table the most common pronunciations were shown. There are exceptions. Some of them are listed in the table below.
| letter | used in | sounds like the Dutch sound | Remark:
| |
| | b | heb | p | When b is the last letter of a word.
| | i | mooi | j |
| | t | organisatie | ts | “tsie” is the normal pronunciation of
words with a “tie”-ending
| | ij | moeilijk | u | “luk” is the normal pronunciation of
words with a “lijk”-ending
| | ij | bijzonder | ie | “bijzonder” is an exception
| | ui | equivalent | ie |
| | ae | Maes | aa | (Flemish) surnames, and geographical names
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Words from Foreign Languages
| letter | used in | sounds like the Dutch sound | Remark:
| |
| | ae | collegae | ee | This is Latin. Collega’s is preferred.
| | ch | chauffeur | sj | The word sounds like the French original.
| | c | race | s | The word sounds like the English original.
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Syllables
Every word has one or more syllables. Every syllable has one vowel.
You can read more about this in the chapter about syllables.
When a syllable ends with a vowel, we call it an open syllable. When the
letters a, i, o, u are part of an open syllable, they
are pronounced like: aa, ie, oo, uu. When e is part of an open syllable, it
is often pronounced like ee.
Pronunciation of a
In avond (evening) the a is pronounced like aa.
The a is at the end of a syllable, because the letter v is part of the second.
The word dat (that) has one syllable. The a is not at the end of the syllable,
and is pronounced dull.
Pronunciation of o
In open (open) the o is pronounced like oo.
The o is at the end of the syllable, because the letter p joins the second syllable.
The e is pronounced as “u” in “hurtle”.
In op (on) the o is not at the end of the syllable.
This means it is pronounced dull. In fact, it is not only pronounced dull, but
also short, unless you are singing a song with long notes.
The sound files on this site are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license version 2.5.
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