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Alphabet & Pronunciation
Dutch alphabet, vowel sounds, consonant clusters, and key pronunciation rules
a, e, i, o, u — korte klinkers
a, e, i, o, u — short vowels
ah, eh, ih, oh, uh
Short vowels in closed syllables: kat, bed, pit, pot, put
aa, ee, ie, oo, uu — lange klinkers
aa, ee, ie, oo, uu — long vowels
aa, ay, ee, oh, uu
Long vowels in open syllables or written double: maan, been, dier
eu, ui, ou/au, ei/ij — tweeklanken
eu, ui, ou/au, ei/ij — diphthongs
ur, ow, ow, eye
Dutch diphthongs: huis [hœys], fout [fɑut], bij [bɛi]
g — de zachte/harde g
g — the soft/hard g (guttural)
ch as in Scottish loch
Northern NL: hard [x]; Southern/Belgian: softer [ɣ]
ch vs sch
ch vs sch pronunciation
ch=[x]; sch=[sx]
ch = guttural; sch = s+ch: school [sxoːl]
w — Nederlandse w
w — Dutch w sound
between English v and w
Dutch w is a bilabial approximant — not like English w
De lange ee/oo in open lettergreep
Long ee/oo in open syllable
leven=[leːvən], bomen=[boːmən]
Single e/o in open syllable is long: le-ven, bo-men
Klinkerverdubbeling in gesloten lettergreep
Vowel doubling in closed syllable
maan→man (short), been→ben
Long vowels written double in closed syllables
De stomme e (sjwa)
The silent/schwa e
de=[də], een=[ən]
Unstressed e = schwa [ə]: de, een, maken [maːkən]
Hallo / Goedemorgen / Tot ziens
Hello / Good morning / Goodbye
HAH-loh / KHOOduh-MORkhən / tot ZEENS
Basic greetings — g is guttural
