The consonants that are not what they look like

Sounds likeThe "ch" in Scottish "loch" or German "Bach". Air scraping over the back of the tongue.

• Two accents, both correct. The hard g of the north and west (Amsterdam, Utrecht) is raspy and far back. The soft g of the south (Brabant, Limburg) and all of Flanders is gentler and further forward, close to a breathy "h" or "y". Switch the voice to Ellen (Flemish) in Settings to hear the soft g.
• ch is never English "ch" as in "church", except in a few loanwords (chips, chocolade: there it is "sh").
• graag has it twice, and gracht three times if you count the ch. These are the warm-up words.

Sounds likesch is s followed by the scrape of g. Never "sh". At the end of a word, -isch is just "s".

• The old spelling -sch at the end of words (mensch, visch) survives on historic signs and in the name 's-Hertogenbosch. It is pronounced as plain s too.
• Scheveningen, the beach town, was used as a password in 1940: the Germans could not say the sch.

Sounds likeThree accepted versions: a tongue-tip trill (Spanish style), a throaty uvular r (French style), and, only at the end of a syllable in the west, an American-style r.

• The so-called Gooise r (the American-sounding one at syllable ends: maar, door, werk) is common on Dutch television. Nobody will blink if you use it there.

Sounds likeBetween English w and v: the lower lip touches the upper teeth as for "v", but there is no buzzing.

• After a vowel (ou, au, uw, eeuw: vrouw, blauw, nieuw) the w is the ordinary English w.
• In Flanders the w is closer to the English one, lips only.

Sounds likef and s are English. v is softer than English v and in the north drifts toward f. z likewise drifts toward s in Amsterdam. s is always sharp "ss", never the "z" of "rose".

• No Dutch word ends in v or z. The pairs swap at the end of a word: huis / huizen (houses), lief / lieve (sweet, inflected), brief / brieven (letters). Treat it as spelling; the sound rule is the devoicing card.

Sounds likeThe "y" in English "yes". Always.

Sounds likeThe "ng" in "singer". Never the "ng-g" of "finger".

Sounds likeLike French or Spanish p, t, k: no puff of air after them. English p, t, k at the start of a word blow.

• t and d are made with the tongue against the back of the teeth, not the ridge behind them. It makes them sound crisper.

Sounds likeAt the end of a word, d is said as t and b as p. Hond (dog) is "hont", heb (have) is "hep".

• This is why goed and goet, or hond and hont, sound identical. Spelling keeps the d so the plural stays recognisable.
• In relaxed speech a d between vowels often turns into a y or w sound: goede becomes "goeie", rode becomes "rooie", houden becomes "houwen". You will hear it everywhere; you do not have to say it.

Sounds liketj is a soft "ty", close to the "ch" in "cheer" but gentler. sj is "sh". The diminutive endings -je, -tje, -pje, -kje use them constantly.

• In kopje and boekje the p and k stay as they are and the j is a y: "kop-yuh", "book-yuh".

Sounds likeDutch keeps the foreign spelling and Dutchifies the sound. c is s before e and i, k elsewhere. th is plain t. -tie is "-tsee". y is ie. French ch is "sh" and French g is "zh".

• station is "stat-SHON", informatie is "in-for-MAH-tsee".
• In names, the old spelling -ck is k and -y is ie or ij: Dijkstra, Van Dyck.