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Learn how to pronounce Dutch with the 26 letters of the alphabet. Get up to speed on Dutch long and short vowels, the Dutch G, J, V, W, and IJ.
- Het Alfabet ~ The Alphabet
- Diacritics
- Nederlandse Uitspraak ~ Dutch Pronunciation Guide
The Dutch alphabet, like English, consists of 26 basic letters. However, there are also a number of letter combinations. The following table includes a listing of all these letters and a guide to their pronunciation. As in English, letter sounds can differ depending upon where within a word the letter occurs. The first pronunciation given below (se...
Diacritics are not very numerous in Dutch and they are mostly limited to loans, but the orthography does for example demand a diaeresis, mostly on ë and ï in words like geërgerd, geïnteresseerd. It marks the boundary of two syllables and is fairly common. It is not to be confused with the German umlaut that only occurs on a few German loans like üb...
Klinkers
Dutch has quite a few vowels (13). To be well understood by a native speaker it is imperative to master them, which can be quite challenge for native speakers of languages that rely more on their many consonants such as Russian. One general observation is that they are always pronounced as more or less pure(or only slightly diphthongized) vowels as in French, never quite as drawled or 'chewed upon' as in many varieties of English. Admittedly this does vary from speaker to speaker and region t...
The spelling rule
The vowels oe and eu are single, but as we saw above five vowels occur in open/covered pairs: a, e, i, o, u.There is a systematic way in the spelling to indicate which of the two varieties is intended. 1. An open syllable ending in a vowel has the 'long' open variety, 2. A closed syllable ending in one or more consonants has the 'short' covered variety.. Example 1. na /naː/ : open syllable - open vowel 2. nat /nɑt/ : closed syllable - covered vowel If a conflict arises, either the vowel or th...
Diphthongs
1. ei and ij are both /ɛɪ̯/ 1. au and ou are both /au/ as in English now 1. ui is /ʌy/ needs to be learned by ear, it is a bit like in French l'oeil. 1. aai is /aɪ̯/ 1. ooi is /oɪ̯/ 1. ieu is /iu/ or /iy/ 1. eeu is /eu/ 1. uw is /yu/ Diphthongs like /ɔɪ̯/ (as in English toy) or /ɑɪ̯/ (as in English my) are not used in the standard language. In various dialects they do occur and producing them is often frowned upon. They are considered 'lower class' in many circles. In unstressed syllables lik...
Dutch alphabet (Nederlands alfabet) Note. There is also a digraph, IJ ij (lange ij), which was once written Y y, a letter which is now mainly used in foreign loanwords. Y is also known as Griekse ij, i-grec or ypsilon. ij is sometimes written with accents on both parts (íj́). Dutch pronunciation (Nederlandse uitspraak) Hear Dutch pronounciation:
The modern Dutch alphabet, used for the Dutch language, consists of the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Depending on how y is used, six (or five) letters are vowels and 20 (or 21) letters are consonants.
May 13, 2022 · As a quick intro, here’s our guide to the Dutch alphabet. We’ll start by looking at the letters alone, and then cover some of the trickiest pronunciations. Once you’ve got this down, pronouncing words in Dutch should be a breeze.
The alphabet contains 26 letters that are much like the English alphabet with only one extra letter – ij. Some Dutch dictionaries and lists (such as ten-year tables) place words or names that start with the letter, or digraph, /IJ/ between the /I/ and /J/ and not where the /Y/ is usually found.
What's the Dutch alphabet like? You may well have to spell out your name and perhaps your address in Dutch. Here is the alphabet and how to pronounce it
