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Dutch is written with the same alphabet as English. Its spelling is far more regular than English spelling: once the value of each letter and letter group is known, almost any word can be read aloud correctly. The difficulties for an English speaker lie in a few vowels with no English equivalent (ui, eu, uu), in the rough g and ch at the back of the mouth, in letters that are said differently from English (w, j, v), and in the long vowels, which are pure where English vowels glide.
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The Dutch alphabet
The Dutch alphabet has the same 26 letters as English, in the same order. The vowels are named by their own Dutch sound, and many consonant names end in the Dutch ee, close to “ay” in “day” (b is said bay, d day). The letters e, i and u are the classic trap: the name of e is close to English “ay”, the name of i to English “ee”, and the name of u has no English equivalent. The pair ij is often treated as a letter of its own.
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a /aː/ | /ɑ/ · /aː/ | man maken | short, close to the vowel of British “hot” (man); long, like “a” in “father” (maken) said ah, like “a” in “father” |
| B b | bee /beː/ | /b/ | bed | said bay, with a pure vowel |
| C c | cee /seː/ | /k/ · /s/ | cola cent | like “k” before a, o, u (cola); like “s” before e, i (cent) said say, with a pure vowel |
| D d | dee /deː/ | /d/ | dag | said day, with a pure vowel |
| E e | e /eː/ | /ɛ/ · /eː/ · /ə/ | bed eten de | short, like “e” in “bed” (bed); long, like “ay” in “day” without the glide (eten); unstressed, like “a” in “about” (de) like “ay” in “day”, held without gliding into “ee” |
| F f | ef /ɛf/ | /f/ | fiets | |
| G g | gee /ɣeː/ | /ɣ/ · /x/ · /ʒ/ | groot dag garage | never the “g” of “go”: a rough sound at the back of the mouth, like “ch” in Scottish “loch” (groot, dag); like “s” in “measure” in some French loanwords (garage) the ch of Scottish “loch”, voiced, followed by the “ay” of “day” |
| H h | ha /ɦaː/ | /ɦ/ | huis | like “h” in “house”, a little breathier said hah, with a soft breathy h |
| I i | i /i/ | /ɪ/ · /i/ | vis kilo | short, like “i” in “bit” (vis); long, like “ee” in “see” (kilo) like “ee” in “see” |
| IJ ij | ij /ɛi/ | like “ay” in “day” with the mouth more open; written with two letters but often counted as onesorted with i | ||
| J j | jee /jeː/ | /j/ · /ʒ/ | ja jam | like “y” in “yes”, never like English “j” (ja); like “s” in “measure” in some loanwords (jam) said yay |
| K k | ka /kaː/ | /k/ | kat | said kah |
| L l | el /ɛl/ | /l/ | land | |
| M m | em /ɛm/ | /m/ | maan | |
| N n | en /ɛn/ | /n/ | nu | |
| O o | o /oː/ | /ɔ/ · /oː/ | zon lopen | short, like “o” in British “hot”, with rounded lips (zon); long, like “oa” in “boat” (lopen) like “oa” in “boat”, with no glide into “oo” |
| P p | pee /peː/ | /p/ | pen | said pay, with a pure vowel |
| Q q | ku /ky/ | /k/ | quiz | only in loanwords, always followed by u said k followed by the Dutch u |
| R r | er /ɛr/ | /r/ | rood | rolled with the tip of the tongue or made at the back of the mouth, as in French (rood) a short e followed by a rolled or throaty r |
| S s | es /ɛs/ | /s/ | soep | |
| T t | tee /teː/ | /t/ | twee | said tay, with a pure vowel |
| U u | u /y/ | /ʏ/ · /y/ | bus nu | short, a rounded vowel between “u” in “put” and “i” in “bit” (bus); long: say “ee” with your lips rounded as for “oo” (nu) say “ee” with your lips rounded as for “oo” |
| V v | vee /veː/ | /v/ | vis | like English “v”; in the Netherlands, often close to “f” at the start of a word (vis) said vay |
| W w | wee /ʋeː/ | /ʋ/ | water | between English “v” and “w”: the lower lip touches the upper teeth lightly said vay, with the Dutch w, softer than English “v” |
| X x | iks /ɪks/ | /ks/ | taxi | said iks |
| Y y | Griekse ij /ˈɣriksə ɛi/ | /i/ · /j/ | baby yoghurt | like “ee” in “see” in loanwords (baby); like “y” in “yes” before a vowel (yoghurt) called Griekse ij (“Greek ij”) or i-grec in the Netherlands, ypsilon in Belgium |
| Z z | zet /zɛt/ | /z/ | zee | said zet |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with these names: hond is spelt ha – o – en – dee. A double letter is given as dubbel followed by the letter (dubbel-o for oo), and a capital as hoofdletter followed by the letter. When a word is spelt, ij is said as one letter and y as Griekse ij, so that the two are told apart.
Alphabetical order. In dictionaries, ij is sorted as i followed by j, between ii and ik. In some lists, such as telephone books, it is sorted with y.
Remember
In Dutch, e is said close to English “ay”, i like English “ee”, and u like no English letter. When a name is spelt aloud, these three letters are easily mixed up.
Many consonants are said as in English: b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t and z. Each of the vowels a, e, i, o and u has a short and a long sound, and the long Dutch vowels ee and oo are pure: they are held steady, with less of the glide heard in English “day” or “go”.
Long and short vowels
A single vowel is short in a closed syllable, before a consonant that ends the syllable (man, bed, vis, zon, bus). It is long at the end of a syllable (ma-ken, e-ten, lo-pen, nu). In a closed syllable, the long vowel is written double: maan, heel, rood, duur. This is why maan has two as but its plural manen has one, and why man doubles its n in the plural mannen to keep the a short.
Stress. Most Dutch words are stressed on the first syllable (water, lopen, eten). Words beginning with be-, ge-, ver- or ont- are stressed after the prefix, and many loanwords are stressed on a later syllable (garage, natie).
Difference from English
The consonants b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t and z are close to their English sounds. New for an English speaker are g, a rough sound at the back of the mouth, w, between English “v” and “w”, and j, said like English “y”. In Belgium and the south of the Netherlands, g is softer, a gentle friction rather than a scrape.
Common mistakes
[ɡroːt]→ [ɣroːt]Groot begins with the rough sound of “loch”: Dutch g is never the “g” of “go”.[dʒaː]→ [jaː]Ja begins with the sound of English “y” in “yes”.[ˈwaːtər]→ [ˈʋaːtər]In water, the lower lip touches the upper teeth lightly: Dutch w is not the rounded “w” of English “water”.
Practise
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Letter groups
Several letters often stand together for one sound. The vowel pairs ie and oe are the most frequent trap for an English speaker: ie is said like “ee” in “see” and oe like “oo” in “food”, and neither is said as written in English.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| aa | /aː/ | maan | a long a, like “a” in “father” |
| ee | /eː/ | heel | like “ay” in “day” without the glide, never like English “ee” |
| oo | /oː/ | rood | like “oa” in “boat”, never like English “oo” |
| uu | /y/ | duur | the long u: say “ee” with your lips rounded as for “oo” |
| ie | /i/ | ziek | like “ee” in “see”, never like “ie” in “pie” |
| oe | /u/ | boek | like “oo” in “food”, but short |
| eu | /øː/ | leuk | round your lips as for “oh” and say the “ay” of “day” |
| ui | /œy/ | huis | no English sound is like it: round your lips, start near the vowel of “bird” and glide towards “ee” |
| ij | /ɛi/ | mijn | close to “ay” in “day” with the mouth more open, never like “i” in “mine” |
| ei | /ɛi/ | klein | the same sound as ij |
| ou | /ɑu/ | oud | like “ow” in “now” |
| au | /ɑu/ | auto | the same sound as ou |
| ouw | /ɑu/ | vrouw | the same sound as ou, with a w written after it |
| auw | /ɑu/ | blauw | the same sound as ou, with a w written after it |
| aai | /aːi/ | haai | a long a followed by a short “ee”, close to “eye” with an open start |
| ooi | /oːi/ | mooi | a long oh followed by a short “ee”, close to “oy” in “boy” |
| oei | /ui/ | groei | the oe of boek followed by a short “ee”, close to “ooey” |
| eeuw | /eːu/ | leeuw | the long ee followed by a short “oo” |
| ieuw | /iu/ | nieuw | the ie of ziek followed by a short “oo” |
| ch | /x/ · /ʃ/ | acht chef | like “ch” in Scottish “loch” (acht); like “sh” in “shop” in some French loanwords (chef) |
| sch | /sx/ | school | an s followed by the “ch” of “loch”, never “sk” or “sh” |
| -isch | /is/ | logisch | at the end of a word, said “is”: the ch is silent (logisch) |
| sj | /ʃ/ | sjaal | like “sh” in “shop” |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ring | like “ng” in “singer”, with no g heard after it as in “finger” |
| nk | /ŋk/ | dank | like “nk” in “bank” |
| qu | /kʋ/ | quiz | like “k” followed by the Dutch w |
| th | /t/ | thee | like “t”: Dutch has no English “th” sound |
| -tie | /tsi/ | natie | at the end of a word, said “tsee”, or “see” in some words (natie) |
- huishouse
- mijnmy
- leuknice
- boekbook
- ziekill
- schoolschool
Remember
ij and ei are two spellings of one sound, and so are ou and au. Which one a word takes is learnt with the word: mijn (“my”) and klein (“small”), oud (“old”) and blauw (“blue”).
Practise
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Trema, accents and the apostrophe
Dutch has no accents of its own in ordinary spelling. A few marks are used to show where one sound ends and another begins, to stress a word, or to show that letters are left out.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| ë | /ə/ | België | the two dots (trema) show that a new syllable begins: in België, ie is not said as one sound but as i followed by e, and the e is said like “a” in “about” |
| ï | /i/ | naïef | the same trema: in naïef, a and i are said apart, not as ai |
| é | /eː/ | één | an accent on a stressed word: één (“one”) is told apart from the article een (“a”) |
| ó | /oː/ | vóór | the same accent of stress: vóór (“before, in front of”) is told apart from voor (“for”) |
| 's | /s/ | auto's | the apostrophe adds s to a word ending in a long vowel, so that the vowel stays long (auto's); it also stands for a left-out de in fixed phrases ('s morgens, “in the morning”) |
| ij | /ɛi/ | IJsland | at the start of a word written with a capital, both letters are capitals (IJsland, “Iceland”) |
Capital letters. Capitals are used as in English, for names and at the start of a sentence, but not for the days of the week and the months (maandag, januari). The polite pronoun u is written small. When a sentence begins with 's or 't, the apostrophe and its letter stay small and the capital is written on the next word: 's Morgens at the start of a sentence.
Common mistakes
Ik heb een broer.→ Ik heb één broer.Where een means “one” and not “a”, the accents show the stress.autos→ auto'sAfter a long vowel at the end of a word, the plural -s is written with an apostrophe.Ijsland→ IJslandThe pair ij takes two capital letters.
Practise
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Final letters and the weak e
English often leaves the last letter of a word silent (name, lamb); Dutch often weakens it.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| -e | /ə/ | de | at the end of a word, like “a” in “about” (de); never silent as in English name |
| -en | /ə/ | lopen | the ending of plurals and infinitives: in the Netherlands the final n is usually dropped in speech, and lopen is said “lopuh” |
| -d | /t/ | hond | said like “t” (hond) |
| -b | /p/ | heb | said like “p” (heb) |
| -ig | /əx/ | aardig | said with a weak vowel, like “a” in “about”, followed by the “ch” of “loch” (aardig) |
| -lijk | /lək/ | vrolijk | said with a weak vowel, like “luk” (vrolijk), never with the sound of ij |
Final consonants
At the end of a word, b and d are said “p” and “t”: hond (“dog”) ends in the sound of t. Before an ending that begins with a vowel, they are said as written: honden (“dogs”), hebben (“to have”).
Difference from English
In English, a final e is usually silent and a final d is kept apart from a final t (bed, bet). In Dutch, a final e is always said, and a final d is said like t: hond (“dog”) ends in the same sound as pont (“ferry”).
- dethe
- lopento walk
- honddog
- aardigkind
- vrolijkcheerful