Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de berg" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de berg in Dutch?

de berg is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈbɛrx/. It means “mountain.” duh BERKH — short "eh," a light r, and the harsh Dutch fricative at the end.

duh BERKH — short "eh," a light r, and the harsh Dutch fricative at the end.

de berg /də ˈbɛrx/

A single beat that ends on friction rather than a stop, so it can be stretched for emphasis. In the plural "bergen" the g moves between vowels, softens and picks up some voicing, which makes the plural noticeably gentler than the singular.

Listen: de berg

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Sound it out

b A voiced stop with a clean, unaspirated release.

e Say it and stop — a short front vowel that must stay distinct rather than being absorbed by the r behind it.

rg A brief tap or scrape followed by the velar fricative, which is fully voiceless at the end of a word. Two very different back-of-the-mouth sounds in immediate succession.

Hear it in a sentence

We wandelen graag in de bergen.

We love hiking in the mountains.

Listen: We wandelen graag in de bergen.

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"We wandelen graag in de bergen" uses the plural, so you hear the softened intervocalic g rather than the harsh word-final one. "Graag" beforehand supplies two more velar fricatives, making this a dense stretch of throat work.

Where English speakers slip

The English "berg" ends in a hard g, and that is exactly the substitution to avoid. Dutch has a fricative there. Learners also let the r colour the vowel American-style, which merges the "eh" and the r into one indistinct sound. Say the vowel, flick the r, then scrape.