Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "blijven" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce blijven in Dutch?

blijven is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈblɛivə(n)/. It means “to stay.” BLAY-vuh — the ij diphthong in the stressed syllable and a voiced v in the middle.

BLAY-vuh — the ij diphthong in the stressed syllable and a voiced v in the middle.

blijven /ˈblɛivə(n)/

The diphthong lives in the stressed opening syllable. What makes this verb instructive is the stem "blijf": drop the ending and the beat has nowhere to go but the same syllable, while the final consonant changes from v to f under Dutch devoicing.

Listen: blijven

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Sound it out

bl A clean b into a bright, forward l — never the dark hollow l English uses in "blue."

ij Starting near "eh" and rising toward "ee." This is the stressed vowel, so it has room to complete its glide properly.

v Fully voiced here because it sits between vowels. In the conjugated "ik blijf" it moves to the end of the word and devoices into an f — the same consonant with two faces.

en Reduced almost to nothing. Because the v before it stays voiced, the transition from v to schwa is smooth rather than clipped.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik blijf vanavond thuis.

I'm staying home tonight.

Listen: Ik blijf vanavond thuis.

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"Ik blijf vanavond thuis" puts the time expression before the place, which is the standard Dutch order and the reverse of what English speakers instinctively produce. The stem "blijf" ends in a devoiced f, audible right before the v-less "vanavond."

Where English speakers slip

The ij gets read as "eye," producing "blive" to rhyme with "drive." Dutch starts that diphthong much higher. The v causes a second problem in the other direction — learners who have learned about final devoicing sometimes apply it here too and say "BLAY-fuh," but between vowels the v keeps its voice.