The spelling rule
The One Rule: open is long, closed is short
This is the thing that makes Dutch spelling look chaotic until it suddenly looks obvious. maan is the moon. The plural is manen, with one a, and it is pronounced with the same long aa. man is a man. The plural is mannen, with two n’s, and the a stays short.
The rule behind it: split the word into syllables. If a syllable ends in a vowel (open), that vowel is long. If it ends in a consonant (closed), the vowel is short. Dutch refuses to write a letter it does not need, so in an open syllable one a is enough to be long. To keep a vowel short where the next syllable starts with a vowel, Dutch doubles the consonant to close the door.
Three consequences worth saying out loud. First, a lone vowel at the end of a word is long: zo, nu, ja. Second, the exception to that is e, which at the end of a word is always the schwa, so a long ee at the end keeps both letters: zee, twee, nee. Third, ie, oe, eu, ui, ij, ei, ou, au never change spelling. The rule is about a, e, o and u.
Sounds likeA single vowel letter is long in an open syllable (one that ends in the vowel) and short in a closed syllable (one that ends in a consonant). A doubled vowel is always long.
- Splitting syllables: one consonant between two vowels goes to the right (ma-nen, lo-pen, wa-ter). Two consonants split down the middle (man-nen, bor-den).
- The spelling changes but the sound does not: maan and manen have the same long aa. Mannen has the short a of man.
- At the end of a word a lone vowel is long: zo, nu, ja, sla. The exception is e, which at the end of a word is always the schwa (de, mode). That is why long ee keeps both letters at the end: zee, twee, nee.
- ie, oe, eu, ui, ij, ei, ou and au never change their spelling. The rule is about a, e, o and u.
- One irregularity: ch counts as a double consonant, so la-chen (to laugh) keeps a short a.
Test this chapter
Click a tile to hear its word, then type what is missing. It does not affect your reviews.