Vowels, part three

The diphthongs

A diphthong starts on one vowel and slides to another. Dutch has three real ones. One is free (ou), one is nearly free (ij), and one, ui, is the sound Dutch people will compliment you on for the rest of your life if you get it right. There is also a family of long vowel plus glide combinations that look alarming and are not.

ij / eiɛiij and eiLocked

Sounds likeStarts at the "e" of "bed" and glides to "ee". Halfway between English "hey" and "high".

How to make it, how to remember itSay "hey" and "high" and meet in the middle: that is ijs (ice). Two spellings, one sound. Dutch children call them the long ij and the short ei, and which word gets which is memorised, like English their and there.

ijsice, ice creammijnmywijwekijklooktreintrainkleinsmalleieggzijnto be

ij behaves as a single letter: capitalised as IJ (IJsselmeer, IJmuiden), and old typewriters had one key for it.
Unstressed -lijk is not this sound. It is the schwa: mogelijk sounds like "mo-ge-luk".

uiœyuiLocked

Sounds likeNo English equivalent. Starts at a rounded Dutch short u and glides toward uu.

How to make it, how to remember itSay "house" but pout the whole way through: lips pushed forward and round from start to finish, tongue forward. "Hoyss" with a pout is huis. The ugly version works; refine it later.

huishouseuitouttuingardenmuismousebuirain showerbuikbelly

ui is never "oo-ee" as in English "fruit" or "suit".
The pair to drill is ui against ou: huis (house) vs hout (wood), buit (loot) vs bout (bolt). Keep your lips rounded for ui, let them relax for ou.

ou / auʌuou and auLocked

Sounds likeThe "ow" in "how" or "out". The one diphthong English speakers get for free.

How to make it, how to remember itKoud is cold and oud is old: hear the English "ow" in both. Two spellings, one sound, again memorised per word. Before a vowel or at the end of a word a w is added: vrouw, blauw, gauw.

koudcoldoudoldhoutwoodzoutsaltblauwbluevrouwwomangauwsoonjouyou (object)

aai ooi oei eeuw ieuwaːi oːi ui eːu iuthe long glidesLocked

Sounds likeA long vowel you already know, plus a "y" (the -i) or a "w" (the -w) tacked on the end.

How to make it, how to remember itNothing new to learn, only to combine: mooi is oo + y ("moh-ee"), nieuw is ie + w ("nee-oo"), sneeuw is ee + w ("snay-oo"), draai is aa + y ("drah-ee"), groei is oe + y ("groo-ee").

mooibeautifuldraaiturnhaaisharkgroeigrowthmoeiteeffortnieuwnewsneeuwsnowleeuwlionduwpush

-uw after a vowel is uu + w: duw, ruw (rough), sluw (sly).

Test this chapter

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