The Y in Dutch - Hear it in a Hundred Words

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The Y in Dutch - Skip General Series Introduction

Pronunciation: Hear for Yourself

Do take my words for it
Too many examples! Listen just to what looks interesting or useful to you. That's the beauty of a free website - you can just skip what you don't need without feeling bad that you paid for something that's of no use to you. Listen to as many or as few examples as you want.
Pay special attention to letters, letter combinations and sounds that you don't have in your own language
These pronunciation pages are not meant for learning vocabulary. The English translations may lack in precision. But if you like, follow the occasional links ‑>> to explanation, examples of usage and/or related words.
Learning Vocabulary

Adjectives in most positions get an -E ending ‑>>
Several words appear twice on the page. I do not have an infinite number of recordings, and some combinations of letters are rarely or never found in Dutch.

Spelling and Pronunciation

Dutch spelling/pronunciation rules say that:

a double vowel is always 'long'
(de) slaap ('sleep') - (de) vloot 2 ('fleet')
a single vowel at the end of a word is always 'long' (except E)
(de) sla ('lettuce') - (de) vlo 2 ('flea') - de 2 ('the' #1)
a single vowel followed by one or more consonants at the end of a word is 'short'
slap ('weak') - (het) vlot 2 3 ('raft')
a single vowel followed by one consonant followed by another vowel is 'long.' (The syllables split is before the single consonant. This is somewhat like English 'silent E')
slapen (sla-pen) ('to sleep) vloten (vlo-ten) 2 ('fleets')
a single vowel followed by two or more consonants is 'short.' (The syllable break is between the consonants)
slappe (slap-pe) ('weak') - vlotten (vlot-ten) 2 3 ('rafts')
This rule 'works' for double consonants, but not always when the consonants are different
The 'voiceless, unstressed E' (the 'schwa') is a problem ‑>>
Diphthongs don't have 'short' and 'long' forms
Vowels and diphthongs are a little longer when followed by R

So (de) man

2 ('man, human adult male) has the plural mannen (man-nen)

2 while (de) maan

2 ('moon') has the plural manen (ma-nen)

2 3

'Long' and 'short' are traditional terms. The difference is actually more of tone than length
More about spelling and pronunciation - another version
Learn the Rules by Studying and Listening to Examples

Major Exceptions to the Phonetic Spelling of Dutch:
- Page 1: een -IG -ISCH -LIJK
- Page 2: -B -D SCHR -TIE UW WR

Hear the Dutch Letters in Hundreds of Words:
AU/OU CH E EI/IJ EU F G H L OE SCH U UI W X Y

'Master Lists' of Dutch words: Dutch to English - English to Dutch

Y in Dutch

(de) "Y"

2 ((de) i-Grèc - 'Greek i') or

((de) Ypsilon - the Greek word for the letter) - but in the Dutch alphabet the Y is called IJ

2 - more below
In Dutch, Y is usually a vowel, pronounced like 'short I'

or 'long I'

- mostly according to the spelling and pronunciation rules - smartphone. Only when followed by a vowel (and then often often also after a vowel) it's said as consonant-Y, pronounced like Dutch J.

'Short Y'		'Long Y'		Unexpected Long Y

Consonant-Y		The Letter Y		Exceptions

Y in Old Names

the: de 2 / het 2 3 - 't ->>
Plurals always take 'de'
a: (een) - 'n / one: één 2 3

Repeat the words after me, try saying them like I do, and record yourself or ask a friend to compare how you say them with how I say them. Try to bring your pronunciation of the words closer and closer to how I say them. Use as few or as many examples as you like.

'short Y'

Dymfna

(a girls' name) - (het) gymnasium

(secondary school type, 'Latin school') - (de) gymnastiek

2 ('PE, gymnastics') - (de/het) gym

2 3 (short for both previous words, and a school hall for gymnastics or sports) - (het) krypton

('Kr,' a 'noble gas') - (het) mysterie

2 ('mystery') - mysterieus

2 3 ('mysterious, enigmatic') - (de) mystiek

('mysticism') - (het) symbool

2 ('symbol') - Sylvia

(a girls' name) - (de) symfonie

('symphony') - (het) symptoom

2 ('symptom') - (het) syndroom

2 ('syndrome') - synthetisch

('synthetic') - systematisch

2 ('systematical') - (de) Ypsilon

(Greek letter Y)

'Long Y'

analyseren

2 3 ('to analyze') - (de) baby

('baby' - English) - (het) baby'tje

2 3 4 ('small or dear baby') - biodynamisch

("biodynamic" - food growing theory) - chrysanten

('chrysanthemums' - flowers) - Coby

2 (a girls' name) - (het) cyaan

2 ('cyaan,' a grey/blue color) - (het) cyanide

2 3 ('cyanide') - (de) cyclus (cy-clus)

('cycle') - cynisch

2 ('cynical') - (de) dynamiek

('dynamics') - dynamisch

('dynamic') - (de) dynamo

2 (small electricity generator on bicycle) - enzymen

2 ('enzymes') - (de) fysicus

2 ('physicist,' physics scientist - also: (de) natuurkundige

- (de) kernfysica

2 ('nuclear physics') - (de) hobby

2 ('hobby, pastime') - (de) hyena

2 ('hyena') - (de) hygiëne

2 3 ('hygiene') - (de) hygiënisch

2 ('hygienic') - hyper

2 3 4 5 ('hyper') - hypercorrect

('hypercorrect') - (de) hypotheek

('mortgage') - (de) hypothese

('hypothesis') - Jenny

2 (a girls' name) - (de) katalysator

2 ('catalyst') - koolhydraten (-hy-dra-)

2 ('carbohydrates') - Lelystad

('a city') - (het) lyceum

('old secondary school type') - lyrisch

2 ('lyrical') - (de) mythe (my-the)

('myth') - polypiep

(["polysqueak"] - a fun word for styrofoam) - (de) pony

2 ('pony' - some people say "poony"

2) - (de) psychiater (psy-chi-)

('psychiatrist') psychisch

2 3 4 ('psychological, mental') - (de) psycholoog

2 ('psychologist') (Y looks like an exception to the spelling/pronunciation rule that a single vowel before CH is 'short') - (de) pyjama

2 3 ('pajamas, pyjamas, PJ's') - (het) systeem (sy-steem)

('system') - typen

('typing, to type') - typisch

('typical') - (de) xylofoon

('') - Yvonne

(a girls' name)

Unexpected Long Y

(het) enzym

2 3 ('enzyme') - ik typ

('I'm typing') - (de) typfout

2 3 ('typo, typing mistake') - symmetrisch

2 3 ('symmetrical')

Consonant-Y

Before a vowel, and often between vowels, Y is pronounced as Dutch J, Consonant-Y
loyaal

2 ('loyal') - (de) loyaliteit

2 ('loyalty') - (de) mayonaise

2 ('mayonaise' - French) - (het) rayon

2 ('area') - royaal

2 3 ('ample, abundant')
(de) yoghurt

2 ('yogurt')

The Letter Y

The letter Y is usually called by its French name: (de) i-Grèc

2 ('Greek i') or you could use the Greek word: (de) Ypsilon

The Dutch alphabet shows a Y but it's said as Dutch EI/IJ

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In algebra Y is also said as Dutch EI/IJ

x + y = z (x plus y is z)

2 3 ‑>> - smartphone

Exceptions

The Y's in the synthetic material nylon

('nylon') and its plural nylons

('sheer stockings') are pronounced as Dutch EI/IJ

- maybe in some imitation of the English.
Hymans

'Hiemans' would sound weird to me
The YE in the name of the small town of Yerseke

is pronounced as English EE, Dutch 'long I'

Y in Old Names

Pieter

Gerbrandy

2 WWII prime minister in exile
Cornelis

Lely

important 20th-Century land reclamation mover ‑>> - Lelystad

In old names, Y and IJ are sometimes found where modern spelling has I, often in diphthongs, like the city of Cuyk - the family name Huygens 2 or the Germanic goddess Freya 2 (Mrs Wotan.)
a few more names: De Gruyter - Van Duyn 2 - Uytewael 2 3 4
Ter Heyde 2 (South of The Hague, 1653 sea battle)
Feyenoord 2 top soccer club from Rotterdam
Spelling reforms don't extend to names.
Dutch people going international sometimes change a IJ in their name to Y

Old New York:
Kykuit 2 (kijkuit = lookout) Rockefeller estate in the Catskills
Nooten Eylandt ('nuts' island') now: Governor's Island (het) eiland 2 island Schuylkill ('hidden river')
Spuyten Duyvil 2 ('the devil's spout'?)
Wiltwyck (now: Kingston)
Pieter Stuyvesant 2
Schuyler 2 (not a first name in Holland)
more Dutch New York

A few old painters:
Johannes Symonsz van der Beek (~1588-1644)
Gerrit Berckheyde 2 (1638-1698)
Hieronymus Bosch 2 (c. 1450-1516) also known as: Jeroen Bosch 2 Jan de Bray (~1627-1697)
Aelbert Cuyp 2 3 (1620-1691) also: Albert Jan van Eyck 2 (~1390 - ~1440)
Jacques de Gheyn 2 3 (1532-1582)
Jan van Goyen 2 (1596-1656)
Jan van der Heyden 2 3 (1637-1712)
Hendrick de Keyser 2 3 (1563-1621)
Jacob Knyff 2 3 (1640-1681) also written as: Knijff Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533)
Judith Leyster 2 3 (1609-1660)
Jan Luyken (1649-1712)
Jacob Pynas 2 3 (1592-after 1650)
170 Dutch painters

Thank you Frederick Roberts of Lincoln, England, for asking about the Y in the Dutch alphabet. I wouldn't have thought of that myself.

Major Exceptions to the Phonetic Spelling of Dutch:
- Page 1: een -IG -ISCH -LIJK
- Page 2: -B -D SCHR -TIE UW WR

Hear the Dutch Letters in Hundreds of Words:
AU/OU CH E EI/IJ EU F G H L OE SCH U UI W X Y

'Master Lists' of Dutch words: Dutch to English - English to Dutch

'Basic' Dutch Words - Pictures Dictionary - Words by Subject - Easy Dutch - Phrases and Conversation Templates - Names - Place Names - verbs