Learn Dutch Grammar - Lesson 1
Exercise 1 The alphabet
Oefening 1 Het alfabeta-ah b-bay c-say d-day e-ay f-eff g-ghay h-hah i-ee j-yay k-kah l-ell m-emm
n-enn o-oh p-pay q-kew r-air s-ess t-tay u-ew v-fay w-way x-eeks y-ay z-zettExercise 2. Speak the following words out loud.
Oefening 2. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.a- (short a-: between `duck' and `dock'. The a- is found in words such as klank (sound), and rand (edge).
klank (sound), brand (fire), krant (newspaper), lam (lamb), want (because), strand (beach)
hand (hand), kast (cupboard), bal (ball), wacht (wait), vast (fixed), grap (joke), schat (treasure)oefening 3. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
aa- (long a-: not found in English at all. It is produced by shaping the mouth for the vowel-sound in the English words `by', `why', etc. but opening the mouth much wider). It is found in Dutch words such as: kaas (cheese) and gaan (to go) and also in open syllables, i.e. in syllables ending on a vowel, as in maken (to make) and praten
(to talk).
taal (language), maan (moon), naakt (naked), maak (make), plaat (record), draad (thread)Note i: There is an essential difference in meaning between such words as plat (flat) and plaat (picture, record), mak (tame) and maak (to make), etc. This difference is determined by the difference between the short and the long a-sounds. It is therefore very important to distiguish clearly between these sounds. Mispronunciation may, in many cases, lead to serious misunderstandings. Here are a few more examples: tak is `branch' in English, but taak means `task'; man has the same meaning as `man' in English but maan means `moon'.
Note ii: The plural of `tak' (branch) is `takken' (branches); this means that the consonant has to be doubled, otherwise we get `taken' (tasks), the plural of `taak' (tasks). This doubling of consonants after short vowel sounds constitutes a rule which applies to mostwords spelled like tak-takken, for example to lap-lappen (rag-rags) and zak-zakken (bag-bags).
Note iii: The a- sound in `tak-takken,' etc. is `short' because the last letter of the syllable is followed by a consonants. (t, s, k, n, etc) This is called a closed syllable. tak is a single closed syllable. tak-ken, is a closed two syllable word. The plural in Dutch is generally formed by adding -en as in the examples above.
If the last syllable of a word is not stretched, the plural is often formed by adding an -s, as in English: thus the plural of `tafel' (table) is tafels. The plural of raam (window) is ramen (windows). The last word consists of two syllables. syllables: ra- and -men. The second a- is dropped because the a- is the last letter of the syllable. If the last letter of a syllable is a vowel, we say that that syllable is open: ra- is thus an open syllable and the single a- is pronounced like an aa- (the long aa-). There are, in other words two ways in which a long vowel sound can be formed: by doubling the vowel concerned, eg., aa- as in kaas or having it at the end of a syllable, as in ramen.To determine the number of syllables that make up a given Dutch word, it is best to pronounce it slowly: ra-men. Again, if the last letter of a syllable is a vowel, such as an a-, this vowel is pronounced as though there were two a's: raa-men. This spelling (i.e. with two a's and a hyphen) is not normal and is here only used to indicate that the word concerned consists of more than one syllable. Words like `praten '(to talk), `betalen' (to pay), `gapen' (to yawn) and `halen' (to fetch) also contain open syllables (pra-ten, be-ta-len, ga-pen, ha-len)
Writing 1. Break the following words up into syllables.
Schrijven 1. Verdeel de volgende woorden in lettergrepen.
takken (branches), lappen (rags), zakken (bags), tafel (table), ramen (windows), praten (to talk) betalen (to pay), gapen (to yawn), halen (to fetch), maken (to make), bakker (baker), daken (roofs)
Oefening 4. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
o- Short o- more or less as in English `more', `for', etc. but quite short). It is found in Dutch words such as bos (woods) and kop (head of an animal).
kop (head of an animal), blok (block), sokken (socks), rok (skirt), borden (plates), stof (dust)Oefening 5. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
oo- (long oo- as in English `go' and `low' but without the glide towards w.) It is found in Dutch words such as groot (big, large) and rood (red).
boom (tree), stoom (steam), oom (uncle), droom (dream), loop (walk), koop (buy), boot (boat)Note iv: As in the case of the a-, o- is pronounced oo- if the syllable in which it appears, is open such as in `bomen'. If this word is split into two syllables, we get bo-men. This word is therefore pronounced `boo-men', but may not be spelled this way. We find this situation in words like `wonen' (to live), dozen (boxes), probleem (problem), and over(over). (do-zen, (boxes)
sym-bo-len, (symbols) pro-bleem, (problem) o-ver (over).Schrijven 2. Verdeel de volgende woorden in lettergrepen.
stoppen (to stop), stomen (to steam), stokken (sticks), bossen (woods), bomen (trees)Oefening 6. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
oor/or- (The pronunciation is a bit different If the letter r comes after double oo or if the last o is part of an open syllable and followed by the letter r) The pronuncation comes very close to the English words `your' and `for'
vroor (froze), bevroren (frozen), woord (word), woorden (words), boren (to drill), oren (ears)Oefening 7. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
e- (short e-: more or less like the sound in English `set', `crest', etc. but somewhat rounder, approaching the a- in English `sat', etc.) It is found in Dutch words such as mes (knife) and kerk (church).
erg (very), kerk (church), kerken (churches), mes (knife), messen (knives), werken (to work)Oefening 8. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
ee- (long ee-: more or less like the English ay- as in `say', `crazy', etc. but without the glide towards `i'). It is found in Dutch words such as veel (much, many) and steen (stone, brick). If e- is in an open syllable, as in `stegen' (ste-gen) (alleys), the word is pronounced stee-gen, but never spelled that way. This is also the situation in words like `breken,' (to break), `weten' (to know), `vergeten' (to forget) and `spelen' (to play).
keel (throat), nee (no), kaneel (cinnamon), weten (to know), vergeten (to forget), spelen (to play)
Note v: The explanation of the difference in pronunciation of e- and ee- only applies to words in which these sounds receive the stress. If the e-sound is unstressed, such as in words like lopen (to walk), bedanken (to thank) and also in de (the), the e- is pronounced as in similar words in English, such as father, paper, etc.
Oefening 9. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
eer/er- (The pronunciation is a bit different If the letter r comes after double ee or if the last e is part of an open syllable and followed by the letter r) The pronuncation comes very close to the English words `near' and `fear'
veer (feather), veren (feathers), beer (bear), beren (bears), speer (spear), speren (spears)Oefening 10. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
u- (short u- heard in English words like `bird', `sir' and `fur'. It is found in Dutch words such as bus (bus) and krul (curl).
Oefening 11. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
uu- (long uu-: This sound is completely unknown in English. It is produced by shaping the lips as for the English sounds under 7 or the Dutch ee and then pouting the lips as though you were going to whistle or kiss). It is found in Dutch words such as vuur (fire) and muur (wall).
Note vi: If the u- appears at the end of a syllable, it is pronounced like uu-.This is the case in words like `muren' (walls), `avonturen' (adventures), `evalueren' (to evaluate), `rumoer' (noise) and ' vuren' (fires).
Schrijven 3. Verdeel de volgende woorden in lettergrepen.
lucht (sky, air), vluchten (to escape, run), rusten (to rest). nummer (number), vuren (fires)Oefening 12. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
i- (short i-: similar to the English i in `sit' and `this'.) It is found in Dutch words like zitten (to sit) and blik (tin, can).
Note vii: Sometimes the i- is long (as in -ie below). We find this in words like radio, idee, and kritiek.
Learn to speak Dutch - double vowels and diphthongs
Oefening 13. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
ie- (long ie-: heard in English words like `seen' and `green' but not stretched). It is found in Dutch words such as lied (song) and vriend (friend).
tien (ten), - radio (radio), idee (idea), kritiek (criticism), mier (ant), spier (muscle), stier (bull)Note viii: i- does not have a long variant: i- and ie- are, in fact, two practically unrelated sounds.
Oefening 14. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
eu- This is a special vowel as it consists of two letters but comprises only one sound. It is unknown in English. It is formed by shaping the lips and tongue for the oo-sound after which the tongue is lowered and pulled back somewhat. It appears in Dutch words such as neus (nose) and keuken (kitchen). Words with ö are pronounced as eu as in föhn (hair drier) but there are not many words with ö in Dutch
steunen (to support), kreunen (to groan, moan), heus (real, genuine), föhn (hair dryer)Oefening 15. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
eur- This sound is also unknow in English and sounds a bit different than the eu sound when it is followed by the letter r. It comes very close to the Dutch u but pronounced a bit longer.
Oefening 16. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
oe- This sound is comparable to the vowel sound in English words such as `dew', `do' and `two'. It is found in the Dutch words vroeg (early) and toen (then - past tense).
Oefening 17. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
ei-/ij- There is no difference between the pronunciation nor between the functions of these two symbols. The sound resembles the ay-sound in the English words say and take, including the i-sound at the end but shorter. The meaning of the Dutch words rijst (rice) and reist (the verb `travels') can, in spoken form, only be determined by the context in which the words appear.
Oefening 18. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
au-/ou- As with ei/ij, there is no difference between au- and ou- except in the spelling, and in this case not even in the meaning. The spelling can only be explained historically. The sounds appear in Dutch words such as gauw (quickly) and goud (gold) and is comparable to the vowel sound in the English word now.
Oefening 19. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
ui- This is apparently one of the most difficult sounds to produce for new learners. It is formed lower in the mouth and by rounding the lips a little less than for the uu-. The sound produced is between the ou- and the eu-. It is found in the Dutch words huis (house) and vuil (dirty).
Note ix: Diphthongs have no long and short forms. There is therefore no doubling of either vowels or consonants if the stem of a given word contains a diphthong. The plural of vuist (fist) is vuisten (fists) and of kruis (cross) it is kruizen(crosses).
Writing 4. Give the plurals of the following words.
Schrijven 4. Geef het meervoud van de volgende woorden.
Learn to speak Dutch - consonants
Oefening 20. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
Note x: The consonants s, f, h, b, d, z, l, m, n, and ng are pronounced the same way in Dutch as in English. P, t, and k are pronounced without the puff of air (called aspiration.) Sometimes the g is pronounced like zh in words borrowed from French. One last vowel sound is found in various Dutch spellings. It is pronounced like uh, as in along or sofa. For example, this sound is found in de (the), een (a), aardig (nice), vriendelijk (kind), and honing (honey)
g-/ch- The g is the voiced variant of the ch. In practice there is little noticable difference between the g- and ch-. The sound is formed in the back of the mouth and is produced by a rasping or friction between the upper and lower part of the throat. It is found in Dutch words such as acht (eight) and gras (grass).
gracht (canal), wachten (to wait), lachen (to laugh), glimlachen (to smile), schijnen (to shine)Oefening 21. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
j- This letter is always pronounced like the English y- and it appears in Dutch words such as ja (yes), jij (you) and bejaard (aged).
jagen (to hunt), jaloers (jealous), je (you) jaloezie ( jealousy), Japan (Japan), jeugd (youth)Oefening 22. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
ng- This sound resembles the ng sound in the English words king, ring and wing
koning (king), vangen (to catch), verlangen (to long), hangen (to hang), rang (rank), koningin (queen)
ringen (rings), zingen (to sing), tong (tongue), wangen (cheeks), brengen ( to bring), honing (honey)Oefening 23. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
v- This sound closely resembles its English counterpart but is just slightly closer to f-. It appears in Dutch words such as van (of, from) and overal (everywhere).
Oefening 24. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
w- The Dutch w- is almost like the English v-. The English w- has no equivalent in Dutch. The Dutch w- is found in words such as water (water) and wijn (wine).
Note xi: A d- at the end of a word is pronounced like a t-. This happens in words like rood (red) and bekend (well-known).
Oefening 25. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
Oefening 26. Spreek de volgende woorden hardop uit.
Note xii: A b- at the end of a word is pronounced like a p-, eg. in heb (have) and lob (lobe).
Oefening 27. Spreek de volgende zinnen (sentences) hardop uit.
This is the end of this lesson. We hope that you were able to pronounce the words correctly. As you may have heared some sounds are unknown in other languages. Don't worry. If you practise these sounds regularly they will be easier to prounce eventually. We wish you a lot of fun with the speakdutch lessons.