Dutch Pronunciation
Created | Updated Sep 2, 2012
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Introduction
The pronunciation of some letters and letter combinations is very different to anything English uses. The explanation of some letters might sometimes be lacking, or slightly different to the actual Dutch pronunciation. In those cases there is no English equivalent of the phonetic sound.
The Letters
| Letter | Name
Pronunciation | Pronunciation in a word |
|---|---|---|
| A | Aaah | usually as in cat |
| B | bay | like English |
| C | say | like English |
| D | day | in the middle of a word like dog, at the end as a 't' |
| E | ay | a short 'eh' sound |
| F | ef | like English |
| G | (dutch g) -ay | The g in dutch is pronounced so that you make rougly the sound of clearing your throat, it is the same sound as the Scottish loch. |
| H | haaah | like English |
| I | eee | like English |
| J | jay | like English |
| K | kaah | like English |
| L | el | like English |
| M | em | like English |
| N | en | like English |
| O | oh | usually like the english word awe, but shorter |
| P | pay | like English |
| Q | koo | kw |
| R | er | a rolling r |
| S | es | like English |
| T | tay | like English |
| U | oe | like the e in her |
| V | [dutch v]ay | bit between a 'v' and a 'f' |
| W | [dutch w] vay | short 'v' |
| X | ix | like English |
| Y | ee-grec | like English |
| IJ | laahnge ay | ai as in train, not quite but nothing is closer... |
| Z | zed | like English |
Vowel combinations
| Combination | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| au | ow |
| ai | like the English name for the letter 'i' |
| aa | aaah |
| eu | her |
| ei | ai, as in train (see IJ from the letter list - this has the same sound) |
| ee | ay |
| ie | eee |
| ou | ow |
| oi | oi |
| oe | oo, like in boot |
| uu | oo, like in loo, but longer |
| ui | oe, like in foe |
Consonant combinations
| Combination | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| ch | like a dutch g, sound of clearing your throat |
| dt | t |
For more information on the Dutch language, see the Dutch language page.
