Vowels, part two

The seven long vowels

aa, ee, oo are the long partners of a, e, o. ie and oe are easy once you stop reading them as English. uu and eu are new, and they are made the same way: take a vowel you know and round your lips without moving your tongue.

Where your tongue is for each vowel: front on the left, back on the right, high at the top. Short vowels are blue, long vowels teal, and ə is the schwa (any unstressed e). The dashed arrows are the three diphthongs, each starting low and gliding up and forward. Notice uu sits right beside ie and eu beside ee: same tongue, rounded lips.

aaaːlong aaLocked

Sounds likeThe "a" in "father", but brighter and held long, with the mouth wide open. The dentist's "aaah".

How to make it, how to remember itShort a was the doctor's "ah", cut off. Long aa is the dentist's "aaah": wide open, held, a little brighter. Maan, the moon, hangs there a long time.

maanmoonnaamnamevaakoftengaanto gojayeswaterwater

Written aa in a closed syllable (maan) and a in an open one (ma-nen, wa-ter, ja). Same sound.

eeeːlong eeLocked

Sounds likeThe "ay" in "say", but you freeze at the start and never slide into the "y". A Canadian "eh?".

How to make it, how to remember itSay "say" in slow motion and stop before the "y" kicks in. That flat, held "eh" is Dutch ee: twee, nee, zee. Think of a Canadian saying "eh?" with total conviction.

beenleg, bonezeeseaneenoweetknowheelvery, wholetweetwo

Before r it opens up: meer (more) and beer (bear) sound close to English "mare" and "bare".
Written e in an open syllable: be-nen (legs), le-zen (to read), we-ten (to know).

oooːlong ooLocked

Sounds likeThe "o" in "boat" without the "w" glide at the end. Lips rounded and held still.

How to make it, how to remember itDutch boot is English boat, said by a Scot who refuses to glide. The trap: Dutch oo is never the English "oo" of "boot". For that sound you need oe.

boomtreebootboatroodredzosogrootbigbroodbread

Before r it opens up: door (through) and voor (for) sound close to English "door" and "four".
Written o in an open syllable: bo-men (trees), zo, ro-de (red, inflected).

uuyːlong uuLocked

Sounds likeFrench "tu", German "über". No English equivalent.

How to make it, how to remember itSay "ee" as in "see" and freeze your tongue. Now, without moving it, round your lips into a tight little "oo" circle. The sound that comes out is uu: muur, vuur, uur.

muurwallvuurfireuurhournunowduurexpensiveuyou (formal)

Written u in an open syllable: u-ren (hours), nu, mi-nuut.
uu versus oe is the pair to drill: muur (wall) vs moer (nut, as in bolt), vuur (fire) vs voer (fodder).

ieiieLocked

Sounds likeThe "ee" in "see", a touch shorter.

How to make it, how to remember itDrie bier: three beers. Say it with a grin and you have got the sound. The spelling ie is never the English "ie" of "pie" or "tie".

viesdirtynietnotdriethreebierbeerliefsweet, kindhierhere

ie never changes spelling in open syllables: vie-ze, die-ren. The lone letter i in an open syllable is for loanwords (liter, idee) and sounds the same as ie.
Before r it is longer: bier, hier, vier.

oeuoeLocked

Sounds likeThe "oo" in "book" or "food", a touch shorter.

How to make it, how to remember itoe is simply how Dutch spells the English "oo": boek is book, goed is good, hoed is hood (it means hat). Every time you see oe, hear "oo".

boekbookhoedhatgoedgoodmoetiredzoetsweetschoenshoe

The two traps: oe is never like English "toe", and the English "oo" sound is never spelled oo in Dutch (that is the "boat" vowel).

euøːeuLocked

Sounds likeFrench "deux", German "schön". No English equivalent.

How to make it, how to remember itSay Dutch ee (the frozen "ay") and round your lips without moving your tongue. That is eu. Leuk is the most Dutch word there is; it means nice, fun, cool. Master eu and you can say it.

neusnosedeurdoorleuknice, funkeukenkitchenkleurcolourreusgiant

The mirror image of uu: uu is "ee" with round lips, eu is "ay" with round lips.
Never like English "eu" in "Europe" or "feud".

Test this chapter

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