Introduction to the Dutch Vowels and Diphthongs
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Klinkers en Tweeklanken Luistertest

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All Vowels and Diphthongs with Exceptions and Special Cases

(de) klinker vowel - plural:  klinkers
(de) medeklinker consonant - plural:  medeklinkers more
(de) tweeklank diphthong - plural: tweeklanken
lettergrepen (let-ter-gre-pen 2) syllables - singular:  (de) lettergreep

The Dutch vowels come in two varieties, traditionally called 'long' (lang 2 3 4) and 'short' (kort 2 3 4) - but it is actually more a difference in tone.

short A long A

short E long E

short I long I (IE)

short O long O

short U long U

A sound like Dutch 'long A' is unusual in English, but it's found in names like Chicago and Florida
There is no sound like Dutch 'short I' in French
The sound of Dutch OO is often represented by OE in English (and vice versa)
There is no sound like Dutch long U in English, but it is is found in French, like in cru or dur and in German, like in hügel and muesli

There's a problematic 'third E' that's outside the long/short categories. I call it the 'voiceless, unstressed E' - it's also called the 'schwa.'
The Dutch word for it is 'stomme E' 2 or 'toonloze E' but I'd rather call it 'niet-beklemtoonde E' ('unstressed E') but that's a mouthful. How about 'doffe E' 2 ('dull E') - but who am I?
More about it later: below

The spelling and pronunciation rules are not complicated and fairly logical: you can usually tell from the spelling of a word if the vowels are 'long' or 'short' and from hearing a word you can tell how it's written.

• Double vowels (aa, ee, oo, uu) are always long
  'i' is never doubled to 'ii' - 'long i' is often written as ie
• single vowels can be 'long or 'short'
• single vowels in the last syllable of a word followed by a one or more consonants are 'short'
  (except -uw which is always 'long')
• single vowels in the middle of a word followed by two or more consonants are usually 'short'
• single vowels at the end of a word are 'long'
  - except single E - more below
  - 'long E' at the end of a word  is written as double E: "ee"
• single vowels are 'long' when followed by a single consonant and one or more vowels (this is somewhat like English 'silent E')
• the parts of compound words are pronounced and written like the original words

	syllables
maan	maan	'long a' - (moon)
man	man	'short a' - (man,male)
mannen	man-nen	'short a' - (men)
Ma	Ma	'long a' - (Mom)
manen	ma-nen	'long a' - (moons)
markten	mark-ten	'short a' - (markets)

Syllables ending in a vowel are called 'open' and syllables ending in a consonant are called 'closed' - hence some call 'long vowels' vrij ('free') and 'closed vowels' gedekt 2 3 ('covered')

See also: The Beauty and Logic of Dutch Spelling and Pronunciation

The 'Third E'
But - there are no perfect rules to differentiate the single E of the voiceless, unstressed E from single E's pronounced as short E and long E .
BE-, GE-, TE- and VER- prefixes (word beginnings: be-, ge-, te- and ver- ) have voiceless E, like -EN, -ER and -EL suffixes (word endings -en, -er and -el ) and single E after a consonant at the end of a word is almost always pronounced as voiceless E, but those rules do not cover all cases. And note that one-syllable words don't have suffixes or prefixes.
The only exception I know when single E at the end of a word is not voiceless, unstressed E but 'long' is in the name of the city of Enschede
A Long Read (with many examples) about 'voiceless, unstressed E' - 2 - 3

The Dutch diphthongs:
AU = OU	EI = IJ	EU	OE	UI

There is no sound like Dutch EI/IJ in English, but I've been told the sound is "somewhere between English FATE and FIGHT" - hear Dutch feit ('fact') - or "between MATE and MIGHT" - hear Dutch: mijt ('parasitic bug') / meid 2 ('girl' - slang)

mees titmouse (a bird)

-

meis "girl" (slang)

-

maïs maize, corn

2

Trees (girl's name)

-

Thijs (boy's name)

-

Thais Thai

2

mei May

-

maai (I) mow

-

mij me

hei heath, moor

-

haai shark

-

hij he

soleil 2

Marseille

bijzonder

'long I'

There's no sound like Dutch EU in English. German has a sound like it in some words with Ö or OE like the logician Gödel - schön 2 3 or Goethe
French has a sound like Dutch EU in a word like deux
The sound of Dutch OE is often represented by OO in English (and vice versa)
French has a sound like Dutch UI in a word like l'oeil ('the eye')

Diphthongs are always 'long' and pose no spelling or pronunciation complications

eeuw
long E + UW
(de) eeuw 2 3 century
(de) leeuw lion
(de) sneeuw snow

ieuw
Dutch IEUW sounds very much like EW in English NEW: Dutch long I (IE) + Dutch UW:
nieuw new
nieuws news
kieuw 2 3 gill (fish breathing)
But but when IEU ends in S or R:
Dutch long I (IE) + Dutch EU + S or R, with a faint consonant-Y (Dutch J) connecting I and EU:
serieus serious
religieus religious
superieur superior
ingenieur engineer (French G)

This flashcards exercise is not meant for learning vocabulary. Some of the words are good examples of pronunciation but not in common use. Follow the links ‑>> if you want to know more about a word (totally optional.)
These flashcards exercises have only two-syllable words or phrases of two one-syllable words

Get to Know the Dutch Vowels and Diphthongs

Hear all Dutch Vowels and Diphthongs next to Each Other

Page 2: Exceptions to Phonetic Spelling of Vowels and Diphthongs, Special Cases

Hearing Illusions and The Psychology of Hearing

Dutch Vowel and Diphthong Listening Tests:
Intro 1 - Intro 2 - Test 1 - Test 2 - Test 3 - Test 4

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