Help:IPA/Dutch

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Dutch on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Dutch in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Dutch pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-nl}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Dutch phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Dutch as well as dialectal variations not represented here.

Table info: Consonants, IPA, Examples, English approximat... ▼

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	beet	bait
d	dak	duck
f	fiets	feats
ɣ	gaan[lower-alpha 1]	no English equivalent; roughly like loch (Scottish)
ɦ	had[lower-alpha 1]	behind
j	jas	yard
k	kat, cabaret	ski
l	land	land
m	mens	man
n	nek	neck
ŋ	eng	long
p	pen, rib[lower-alpha 2]	sport
r	ras[lower-alpha 3]	American atom, or bar, or Scottish loch, but voiced
s	sok	between sip and ship (retracted) (N), sip (B)
t	tak, had[lower-alpha 2]	stop
v	ver[lower-alpha 1]	very, but more forceful
ʋ	wang[lower-alpha 4]	like a looser very
x	acht,[lower-alpha 1] weg[lower-alpha 2]	loch (Scottish English)
z	zeep[lower-alpha 1]	between zone and genre (retracted) (N), zone (B)
Marginal consonants
c	tientje, check[lower-alpha 5]	cheer
ɡ	goal[lower-alpha 6]	goal
ɟ	Giovanni[lower-alpha 5]	jeep
ɱ	omvallen	symphony
ɲ	oranje, Trijntje[lower-alpha 5]	somewhat like canyon
ʃ	sjabloon, chef[lower-alpha 5]	ship
ʒ	jury[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 5]	genre
ʔ	beëindig [bəˈʔɛindəx], Trijntje Oosterhuis [-ə ˈʔoː-][lower-alpha 7]	catch in uh-oh!
Stress
ˈ	voorkomen voorkomen	as in commandeer /ˌkɒmənˈdɪər/
ˌ	voorkomen voorkomen	as in commandeer /ˌkɒmənˈdɪər/
Other representations
( )	maken [ˈmaːkə(n)] zelf [zɛl(ə)f]	Optional sound[lower-alpha 8]

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
Checked vowels[lower-alpha 9]
ɑ	bad	father, but rather short
ɛ	bed	bed
ɪ	vis	sit
ɔ	bot	off
ʏ	hund	roughly like nurse
Free vowels and diphthongs[lower-alpha 9]
aː	aap	father
eː	beet, ezel[lower-alpha 10]	American may (N), Scottish may (B)
ə	de	again
i	diep	deep
oː	boot[lower-alpha 10]	American go (N), story (B)
y	fuut	roughly like few
øː	neus[lower-alpha 10]	roughly like fur
u	hoed	roughly like rule
ɑi	ai	price
aːi	draai	prize
ʌu	jou, dauw	out
ɛi	bijt, ei	roughly like Australian may
eːu	sneeuw	say oo
iu	nieuw	ew!
ɔi	hoi	choice
oːi	nooit	boys
œy	buit	roughly like Canadian ice
ui	groei	gooey
yu	duw	RP too
Marginal vowels
ɛː	scène[lower-alpha 11]	square (British English)
iː	analyse, dier[lower-alpha 12]	wheeze
ɔː	roze[lower-alpha 13][lower-alpha 14]	thought
œː	freule[lower-alpha 13]	roughly like fur
uː	cruise, boer[lower-alpha 12]	rule
yː	centrifuge, kuur[lower-alpha 12]	roughly like fugue
ɑ̃ː	genre[lower-alpha 13]	roughly like croissant
ɛ̃ː	hautain[lower-alpha 13]	roughly like doyen
ɔ̃ː	chanson[lower-alpha 13]	roughly like montage