Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "begrijpen" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce begrijpen in Dutch?

begrijpen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /bəˈɣrɛipə(n)/. It means “to understand.” buh-KHRAY-puh — throwaway first syllable, then the g-plus-r cluster and the ij diphthong under the stress.

buh-KHRAY-puh — throwaway first syllable, then the g-plus-r cluster and the ij diphthong under the stress.

begrijpen /bəˈɣrɛipə(n)/

This verb breaks the first-syllable rule for a reason: the be- prefix is inherently unstressed, so the beat moves to the root, be-GRIJ-pen. The same shift happens with ver-, ont-, her- and ge-, which together account for most of the exceptions a beginner will meet.

Listen: begrijpen

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Sound it out

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

gr Velar friction running straight into an r — one of the harder onsets in Dutch. Keep the airflow continuous from the scrape into the tap instead of restarting.

ij The stressed diphthong, gliding from "eh" up toward "ee." It has room here to complete the movement properly.

en The unstressed close of a word that already began with an unstressed syllable — all the energy sits in the middle.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik begrijp dit woord niet.

I don't understand this word.

Listen: Ik begrijp dit woord niet.

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"Ik begrijp dit woord niet" ends with the negator after the object, and the stem "begrijp" devoices its final p — already voiceless here, so no change is audible, unlike verbs ending in b or d. The demonstrative "dit" is correct because "woord" is a het-word.

Where English speakers slip

Two errors stack up. Learners stress the prefix, saying "BEE-gry-pen," and they read the ij as the "eye" of "gripe." Both need fixing together, since the diphthong is in the syllable that should be loudest. The gr- cluster is the third hurdle, and inserting a vowel to ease it — "buh-kuh-RY-pen" — is a common fallback that adds a syllable.