We’re going to work on Dutch ultspraak, or Dutch pronunciation. I’ll give you tips on how to pronounce Dutch sounds and compare them with sounds that are close to what you may hear in English. Just a reminder though, the sounds may not be exactly what you hear in English and the only way you can be sure you got it right is to hear it first hand.

First, let’s look at the short vowels. The Dutch words will be in parentheses and the meanings will follow right after the parentheses.

a – it’s pronounced like the u in the English word for hut. Some examples of Dutch words that contain this sound is: (star) stiff, stubborn, (wakker) awake

e – pronounced like the English e in bet. Examples: (stem) voice, (les) lesson

i – like the English i in fit. Examples: (Brit) British man, (winter) winter

o – like the o in mortar, but shorter. Examples: (los) loose, free; (stom) stupid

u – like the u in burden, but much shorter. Examples: (kus) kiss, (nut) use

y – like the y in system. Examples: (mysterie) mystery, (symptom) symptom

Ok, now it’s time for the long vowels:

oo – kind of like the English o in go, but longer. Examples: (groot) big, large; (rood) red

ee – kind of like the ay in say. Examples: (veel) much, many; (steen) stone, brick

uu – we don’t really have something similar in English. Maybe like the oo in mood. The best I can do here is say that it’s close to the German ö. Examples: (vuur) five, (uur) hour

Next time I’ll do a post on dipthongs and double vowels