Shorts  from the 100% Free Hear Dutch Here Website
Vowels and Diphthongs, Spelling and Pronunciation
     klinkers click to hear vowels:
a click to hear
'short' A
aa/a click to hear
'long' A
e click to hear
'short' E
ee/e click to hear
'long' E
    e click to hear
'voiceless, unstressed E' (the 'schwa')
i click to hear
'short' I
ie ( ii ) / i click to hear
'long' I
o click to hear
'short' O
oo/o click to hear
'long' O
u click to hear
'short' U
uu/u click to hear
'long' U
     tweeklanken click to hear diphthongs:
au/ou click to hear ei/ij click to hear eu click to hear oe click to hear   ui click to hear

Dutch spelling/pronunciation rules say that:
  • a double vowel is always 'long'
    (de) slaap click to hear ('sleep') - (de) vloot click to hear 2 ('fleet')
  • a single vowel at the end of a word is always 'long' (except E)
    (de) sla click to hear ('lettuce') - (de) vlo click to hear 2 ('flea') - de click to hear 2 ('the' #1)
  • a single vowel followed by one or more consonants at the end of a word is 'short'
    slap click to hear ('weak') - (het) vlot click to hear 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) click to hear ('to sleep) vloten (vlo-ten) click to hear 2 ('fleets')
  • a single vowel followed by two or more consonants is 'short.' (The syllable break is between the consonants)
    slappe (slap-pe) click to hear ('weak') - vlotten (vlot-ten) click to hear 2 3 ('rafts')
    This rule 'works' for double consonants, but not always when the consonants are different
  • Diphthongs don't have 'short' and 'long' forms, no spelling changes
  • Double consonants sound the same as single consonants, not longer or with a pause in-between
So (de) man click to hear 2 ('man, human adult male) has the plural mannen (man-nen) click to hear 2 while (de) maan click to hear 2 ('moon') has the plural manen (ma-nen) click to hear 2 3
'Long' and 'short' are traditional terms. The difference is actually more of tone than length ‑>>
First Examples
More Spelling and Pronunciation:
lesson 3 - lesson4 - lesson11 - Plurals
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Gij zult niet stelen click to hear 'Thou shalt not steal'