I can read oe as the oo of “food”, keep it apart from u and uu, say ui and eu, which English doesn't have, and remember which words have ij and which have ei.
oe, eu, ui: the oo of “food” and two sounds English doesn't have
oe, eu, ui: the oo of “food” and two sounds English doesn't have
The oo of “food” is written oe in Dutch: goed, het boek, de broek. The letter u is a different sound (lesson 2).
eu is [øː], a sound English doesn't have: say the ay of “day” without the glide and round your lips; never “you”: de deur, de neus. ui is [œy], also missing from English: start from the u of “hut” with rounded lips and glide toward Dutch uu, in one syllable: het huis, de tuin, uit.
Compare the pairs: de deur (eu) means “door” and duur (uu) means “expensive”; het boek (oe) means “book” and de buik (ui) means “stomach”.
ie is long [i], the ee of “see”, never “eye”: de fiets, het bier, vier. In ieuw you hear a light oo after the ee: nieuw.
Common mistakes:
• NOT u for the oo of “food” — book is het boek, with oe.
• NOT ui as two sounds, “oo” + “ee”, or as “ow” — het huis has one sound.
Two letters, one sound
The oo of “food” is oe.
| How it sounds | Written form | Words |
|---|---|---|
| [u], the oo of “food” | oe | goed — good, well · het boek — book · de broek — pants |
| [øː], no English sound | eu | de deur — door · de neus — nose |
| [œy], no English sound | ui | het huis — house · de tuin — garden · de buik — stomach |
| [ɛi], near “day” — two spellings | ij, ei | mijn — my · klein — small · de trein — train |
| [ʌu], like ow in “now” — two spellings | au, ou | blauw — blue · de vrouw — woman · oud — old |
| long [i], the ee of “see” | ie | de fiets — bicycle · het bier — beer · vier — four |
| [iu], ee + a light oo | ieuw | nieuw — new |
| not “oo” or “uh”: lips forward | u, uu | duur — expensive · de cursus — course |
Lesson notes
oe, eu, ui: the oo of “food” and two sounds English doesn't have
The oo of “food” is written oe in Dutch: goed, het boek, de broek. The letter u is a different sound (lesson 2).
eu is [øː], a sound English doesn't have: say the ay of “day” without the glide and round your lips; never “you”: de deur, de neus. ui is [œy], also missing from English: start from the u of “hut” with rounded lips and glide toward Dutch uu, in one syllable: het huis, de tuin, uit.
Compare the pairs: de deur (eu) means “door” and duur (uu) means “expensive”; het boek (oe) means “book” and de buik (ui) means “stomach”.
ie is long [i], the ee of “see”, never “eye”: de fiets, het bier, vier. In ieuw you hear a light oo after the ee: nieuw.
Common mistakes:
• NOT u for the oo of “food” — book is het boek, with oe.
• NOT ui as two sounds, “oo” + “ee”, or as “ow” — het huis has one sound.
ij and ei, au and ou; capital IJ; sailors' words
ij and ei sound the same, [ɛi]: between the vowel of “day” and “eye”, closer to “day”: mijn, klein, de trein. au and ou are one sound too, [ʌu], like ow in “now” but starting from a rounder vowel: blauw, de vrouw, oud. Learn which spelling a word has together with the word: the checker tells them apart.
At the start of a name or a sentence, ij is written with two capitals: IJsland, de IJssel.
English took some sea words from Dutch: sloop (de sloep), caboose (de kombuis), yacht (het jacht). The Dutch spelling shows the Dutch sounds: oe = [u], ui = [œy]. More sailors' words are in the table below: de matroos, de sluis, de broek.
Common mistakes:
• NOT Ijsland — both letters are capitals: IJsland.
• NOT y instead of ij — mijn.