1.2 Vowel sounds

1. a- (short a-: between duck and dock). The a- is found in words such as pak (parcel, suit), and plat (flat).  


2. aa- (long aa-: 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).   Exercise 2. Read the following words aloud: kraal, ramen, aap, daar, platen, vaak, kaal, bazen, ja, amen.

Exercise 1. Practice the a- sound in the following words by reading them aloud: plat, kranten, dag, zakken, pak, vast, wal, klap, ratten, gat.

Note i: There is en 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 distinguish clearly between these sounds. Mispronunciation may, in may 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 most words 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 they are single and followed, in the same syllable, by a consonant (t, s, k, n, etc.). 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: 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).

4. 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). Exercise 5. Read the following words aloud:  knoop, vroom, roos, kroon, boos, droog, hoofd.  

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), symbolen (symbols), probleem (problem), and over (over). (do-zen, sym-bo-len, pro-bleem, o-ver).

Exercise 6. Break the following words up into syllables: kloppen (to knock), kopen (to buy), sloten (locks, ditches), doden (to kill), volgen (to follow), roken (to smoke) and stoppen (to stop).

5. 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).

Exercise 7. Read the following words aloud: gek, lekker, best, vet, wetten, sterk, vertellen, bek, erg, ontdekken.

6. 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), 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). Exercise 8. Break the following words up into syllables: geven (to give), lekker (nice), eten (to eat), vreten (to eat like an animal), kerken (churches), kennen (to know a person or to know as a result of having studied it) and weten (to know a fact or because you were told).

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.

7. 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). Exercise 9. Read the following words aloud: stuk, knul, nummer, juk, lucht.

8. 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 (brick wall).

Exercise 10. Read the following words aloud: minuut, schuren, duur, gruwel, puur, ruzie, muziek, stuur.

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).

Exercise 11. Break the following words up into syllables: muziek, vlugger, puur, rust, turen, lucht, vluchten, rusten, Welterusten.

æ mu-ziek, vlug-ger, puur, rust, tu-ren, vluch-ten, rus-ten, wel-te-rus-ten

9. 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). Exercise 12. Read the following words aloud: ik, klimmen, flink, binnen, in, vinden, zingen, kring.

Sometimes the i- is long (as in -ie below). We find this in words like radio, idee, and kritiek.

10. 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). Exercise 13. Read the following words aloud: dier, vies, hier, plezier, zien, vier, drie, niet.

Note vii: i- does not have a long variant: i- and ie- are, in fact, two practically unrelated sounds.

11. 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).