The Dutch alphabet and pronunciation

Dutch uses the Latin alphabet and is written from left to right. In this lesson you learn the letters, how to spell your name and which sounds are different. Read all the examples out loud.

The alphabet: 26 letters

When you spell a word, you say the name of each letter. This is how the names sound:

Letter	Name	Example
a	aa	de appel (the apple)
b	bee	het brood (the bread)
c	see	het centrum (the centre), de computer
d	dee	de dag (the day)
e	ee	eten (to eat)
f	ef	de fiets (the bicycle)
g	gee	goed (good)
h	haa	het huis (the house)
i	ie	ik (I)
j	jee	ja (yes)
k	kaa	het kind (the child)
l	el	lopen (to walk)
m	em	de melk (the milk)
n	en	de naam (the name)
o	oo	het oog (the eye)
p	pee	de pen (the pen)
q	kuu	rarely used
r	er	rood (red)
s	es	de school (the school)
t	tee	de tafel (the table)
u	uu	het uur (the hour)
v	vee	vier (four)
w	wee	het water (the water)
x	iks	de taxi (the taxi)
y	Griekse ij	de yoghurt (the yoghurt)
z	zet	de zon (the sun)

Good to know:

• C sounds like s before e or i (het centrum) and usually like k elsewhere (de computer).
• Ij is not a separate letter of the alphabet. When spelling, many people say ‘lange ij’ (long ij). Y is called ‘Griekse ij’ (Greek ij).

Spelling your name

You will often hear: Hoe schrijf je dat? (How do you write that?) or Kunt u dat spellen? (Can you spell that?). Then you say the letters one by one:

• Mijn naam is Reza. (My name is Reza.) You spell: er – ee – zet – aa.
• Ik woon in Delft. (I live in Delft.) You spell: dee – ee – el – ef – tee.

Practise your first name, your surname and your street. You will often need to spell them, for example on the phone.

Short and long vowels

The vowels are a, e, i, o and u. A vowel can be short or long, and that often changes the meaning:

Short	Example	Long	Example
a	de man (the man)	aa	de maan (the moon)
e	ik ben (I am)	ee	het been (the leg)
i	de vis (the fish)	ie	vies (dirty)
o	de zon (the sun)	oo	de zoon (the son)
u	de bus (the bus)	uu	de muur (the wall)

A long vowel is often written with two letters. But at the end of a syllable, one letter is enough: de naam → de namen (names), het jaar → de jaren (years), ik woon → wij wonen (I live → we live).

The e in de and lopen is short and weak. At the end of lopen, you often do not hear the n.

Sounds written with two letters

Letters	Examples
oe	het boek (the book), goed (good)
ie	niet (not), de fiets (the bicycle)
eu	de deur (the door), de neus (the nose)
ui	het huis (the house), uit (out)
ei and ij	de trein (the train), het ijs (the ice), mijn (my)
au and ou	blauw (blue), oud (old), de vrouw (the woman)

Ei and ij sound the same, and so do au and ou. So you learn the spelling word by word.

Consonants to watch

• G and ch sound almost the same, at the back of your throat: goed, graag (gladly), acht (eight).
• J sounds like the y in English ‘yes’: ja, jij (you), januari (January).
• W and v are two different sounds: wind (wind) is not the same as vind (find).
• Sch at the start of a word is s + ch: de school.
• A d at the end of a word sounds like t: goed, de hond (the dog). A b at the end sounds like p: ik heb (I have).

Note if you speak Farsi or Dari

• Every vowel is written. In Persian, short vowels are usually not written. In Dutch, every vowel is. So read them all: pan, pen and pin are three different words.
• Short or long. Dutch has more vowels than Persian. Make a long vowel really longer: man – maan, zon – zoon.
• Uu, eu and ui are new. Say ie with rounded lips and you hear uu. Say ee with rounded lips and you hear eu. Make sure muur (wall) does not sound like moer (nut).
• W and v. In Persian they are written with the same letter (و). For the w, your lower lip touches your upper teeth only very lightly. For the v, you hear the air.
• Two consonants at the start. Say straat (street), spreken (to speak) and school without a vowel before or between them: not estraat or sepreken.
• The g is easy for you. The Dutch g sounds like the Persian sound خ, which you already know. So do not say the g in goed like the g in English ‘go’.
• Capital letters. Persian has no capital letters. In Dutch, a sentence and a name start with a capital letter: Ik woon in Utrecht. (I live in Utrecht.)

You can practise this in the A1 course or with the free Dutch A1 word list, where you can hear how every word is pronounced.