Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "bedankt" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce bedankt in Dutch?

bedankt is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /bəˈdɑŋkt/. It means “thanks.” buh-DAHNKT — a throwaway first syllable, then everything lands on DANKT.

buh-DAHNKT — a throwaway first syllable, then everything lands on DANKT.

bedankt /bəˈdɑŋkt/

The be- prefix is permanently unstressed in Dutch, so the beat has nowhere to go but the root syllable DANKT. This is a rule worth memorising early: be-, ge-, ver-, ont- and her- all shove the stress rightward onto whatever follows.

Listen: bedankt

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Sound it out

be- An unstressed verbal prefix reduced to a bare schwa, "buh." It never takes the beat in any Dutch word, which makes it a reliable stress signpost.

a Short open "ah," cut off sharply by the consonant cluster behind it — nowhere near the flat vowel of English "thank."

nk The n assimilates to a velar /ŋ/ before k, exactly as in English "sink," so the tongue tip never touches the ridge.

t A final t pronounced fully and quietly. Dutch stacks all three of these consonants without inserting any vowel to help.

Hear it in a sentence

Bedankt voor je hulp.

Thanks for your help.

Listen: Bedankt voor je hulp.

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"Bedankt voor je hulp" shows the preposition Dutch pairs with this word — "voor," not "om" or "van." The v of "voor" is only lightly voiced in the north and often sounds close to f, so the phrase runs together as buh-DAHNKT-for-yuh-hulp with no heavy word boundaries.

Where English speakers slip

Because the word looks vaguely like "be-thanked," learners give the first syllable a real vowel — "BEE-dankt" or "beh-DANKT" — when it should be as light and colourless as the a in "about." The other giveaway is a final -kt cluster broken up with a helping vowel, producing "dank-uht." Both consonants belong to the same syllable and are released together in one quick gesture.