Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de badkamer" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de badkamer in Dutch?

de badkamer is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈbɑtkaːmər/. It means “bathroom.” duh BAHT-kah-mur — the d of "bad" devoices to t before the k, and the beat is on the first element.

duh BAHT-kah-mur — the d of "bad" devoices to t before the k, and the beat is on the first element.

de badkamer /də ˈbɑtkaːmər/

Compound stress on the first element, BAD-kamer, which is the usual Dutch pattern. Notice that the compound also creates a word-internal devoicing site — the d of "bad" behaves as if it were word-final because it ends its own element.

Listen: de badkamer

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Sound it out

bad- Short open "ah" with the d devoiced to t, because it ends the first half of the compound. The word sounds like "bat," not "bad."

k Unaspirated, and it collides directly with the t before it. In fast speech the two stops can merge into a single held closure.

a Long and open, taking secondary stress. It is noticeably longer than the short a in the first element, which is a useful contrast within one word.

mer The weak final syllable: m plus schwa plus a barely-audible r, fading out.

Hear it in a sentence

De badkamer is boven.

The bathroom is upstairs.

Listen: De badkamer is boven.

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"De badkamer is boven" uses "boven" for upstairs, and the sentence has just two content words. The long compound at the front and the two-syllable adverb at the end give it a heavy-light rhythm.

Where English speakers slip

Learners voice the d in the middle, producing "BAD-kamer" with an English d. Dutch devoices it to t at the element boundary. They also stress the second element, giving "bad-KA-mer," which sounds like two separate words. And the first vowel is short while the second is long — mixing them up flattens the compound.