Alphabet & Pronunciation
Alphabet & Pronunciation
Dutch is written with the Latin alphabet plus the digraph ij, which behaves almost like its own letter — English spelling is notoriously inconsistent, but Dutch follows its own rules far more reliably once you learn them.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Dutch is (mostly) phonetic — unlike English
Zoals het geschreven wordt, zo wordt het meestal uitgesproken.
As it is written, so it is (usually) spoken.
English spelling is famously unpredictable — 'through,' 'though,' 'tough,' and 'thought' all use the same four letters differently. Dutch is far more consistent: once you learn a small set of rules (doubled vowels are long, doubled consonants keep the previous vowel short), you can read almost any Dutch word aloud correctly on first sight, without the guesswork English demands.
Sounds English doesn't have
g/ch (guttural throat scrape), ui (rounded diphthong) — no English equivalent
no direct English match
Dutch's g and ch make a rasping sound scraped at the back of the throat that doesn't exist in English at all — the closest English gets is the 'ch' in Scottish 'loch,' and even that's softer. The diphthong ui, as in huis ('house'), also has no true English match; approximating it with English 'ow' or 'oy' will mark you immediately as a learner, so it's worth training the sound deliberately.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| Dutch | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ij | like English 'eye' | as in mijn ('my') |
| g / ch | guttural throat scrape | as in goed ('good') |
| ui | rounded diphthong, no English match | as in huis ('house') |
| eu | rounded 'uh', no English match | as in deur ('door') |
| oe | like 'oo' in food | as in boek ('book') |
| aa | long 'ah' | as in maan ('moon') |
| ee | long 'ay' | as in twee ('two') |
| sch | 's' + guttural scrape, NOT 'sh' | as in school ('school') |
| w | soft, between English 'v' and 'w' | as in water ('water') |
| j | like English 'y' | as in ja ('yes') |
| v | soft, between English 'v' and 'f' | as in vader ('father') |