'short' E

'long' E

unstressed E'

• Single E after a consonant at the end of a word is almost always pronounced as voiceless E:
  - alle ('all') - (de) aarde ('the earth // soil, dirt') - lieve ('dear') - (het) kopje ('cup, small cup') - (het) zusje ('sister')
• BE-, GE-, TE- and VER- prefixes (word beginnings be-, ge-, te- and ver- ) have voiceless E:
  - bepaald 2 ('specific, certain') - (het) beton 2 ('concrete')
  - (het) gebit 2 3 ('teeth,' "teeth") - (het) gedoe 2 ('fuss')
  - (het) tekort 2 ('shortage, lack') - terug ('back' - going, coming)
  - verdacht 2 3 ('suspect, suspicious') - (het) verdriet 2 ('grief, sadness')
• -EN, -ER and -EL suffixes (word endings -en, -er and -el ) have voiceless E:
  - boven 2 ('up, upstairs; over') - binnen 2 ('inside')
  - ander ('other') - (de) boter ('butter')
  - (de) appel ('apple') - (de) borstel ('brush')
• BUT not all word beginnings be-, ge-, te- and ver- are prefixes and not all word endings -en, -er and -el are suffixes - not in one-syllable words, and two-syllable words can't have both a prefix and a suffix. Words of three syllables may come with both a prefix and a suffix (or two prefixes or suffixes)
  - beter 2 ('better') - geven 2 ('to give') - (het) teken 2 3 ('sign') - (de) verte 2 ('~distance') - vertel! ('tell me/us!')
• The emphasis, stress ((de) klemtoon 2) in a word is almost never on the voiceless, unstressed E - only in these single-syllable common words:
  de ('the') - te ('at; too') - me ('me') - je ('you') - ge (Flemish 'you') - we ('we') - ze ('she; they')
  other one-syllable common words with voiceless E:
  - 'n ('a') - 't ('the; it') - m'n ('my') - z'n ('his') - and slightly substandard 'r ('her; ~there') - d'r ('her; ~there')

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