A to Z with every letter's name, its sound and example words — plus the combinations that trip up English speakers: the guttural g, the impossible ui, ij versus ei. Tap any word to hear it.
A
said “aa”
short 'a' as in 'father', clipped
A raspy scrape at the back of the throat, like the 'ch' in Scottish 'loch'. g and ch sound the same.
No English equivalent — round your lips and glide from 'ow' toward 'uh'. Keep trying, it clicks.
Both sound identical, roughly like 'ay' in 'hay' but shorter and sharper. Spelling differs, sound doesn't.
Like French 'eu' or German 'ö' — say 'e' with rounded lips.
Like the 'oo' in English 'food'.
Both sound the same, like 'ow' in 'now'. Spelling differs, sound doesn't.
's' followed by the guttural 'ch' — s-ch, not English 'sh'. At the end of a word (‑isch) it's just 's'.
Like 'ng' in English 'sing' — one sound, no hard 'g' after it.
A doubled vowel is simply held longer: man vs maan, bom vs boom. Length changes the meaning.
26 letters and 9 sound groups, with 137 example words — all with native audio.
The Dutch alphabet has the same 26 letters as English, but several are named and pronounced differently. The letters are said aa, bee, cee, dee, ee, ef, gee, haa, ie, jee, kaa, el, em, en, oo, pee, kuu, er, es, tee, uu, vee, wee, iks, i-grec and zet. The big surprises are g (a throaty scrape), j (sounds like English 'y') and the vowel u (like French ü).
The Dutch g (and ch) is a guttural sound made at the back of the throat, like the 'ch' in the Scottish word 'loch' — English has nothing quite like it. It's the same sound in goud (gold), lachen (to laugh) and the famous gezellig. In the south of the Netherlands and in Belgium it's softer; in the north it's harsher. Both are correct.
Yes. The 'long ij' (as in mij, wij) and the 'short ei' (as in trein, klein) are pronounced identically — roughly like 'ay' in 'hay' but shorter and sharper. Only the spelling differs, which is why Dutch children learn which words take ij and which take ei. The same is true for au and ou: same sound, different spelling.
A doubled vowel is simply held longer, and the length changes the meaning: man (man) vs maan (moon), bom (bomb) vs boom (tree), zon (sun) vs zoon (son). Getting vowel length right is one of the fastest ways to sound clearer, so the examples here pair short and long sounds to train your ear.
Vocabulary, grammar and all five DUO sections — Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking and KNM — in the real exam format.