Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de leraar" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de leraar in Dutch?

de leraar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈleːraːr/. It means “teacher.” duh LAY-rahr — a bright l, a long "ay," then a long "aah" and a light r.

duh LAY-rahr — a bright l, a long "ay," then a long "aah" and a light r.

de leraar /də ˈleːraːr/

Front-stressed, but with the unusual feature that the unstressed syllable holds a full long vowel rather than a schwa. The -aar agent suffix behaves this way throughout Dutch, in "leraar," "ambtenaar" and "eigenaar."

Listen: de leraar

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Sound it out

l Tongue tip forward and the body low, giving a light l rather than the hollow English one.

e The word's only stressed vowel, held long because the syllable ends right after it. Everything else in the word is longer than it deserves to be by comparison.

r A brief flick between the two long vowels, kept light enough that both survive it intact.

aar A long open "aah" plus a closing flick. This second syllable is unstressed but keeps a full vowel — the -aar suffix does not reduce.

Hear it in a sentence

De leraar legt de les uit.

The teacher explains the lesson.

Listen: De leraar legt de les uit.

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"De leraar legt de les uit" splits the separable verb "uitleggen," stranding "uit" at the end with its rounded ui diphthong. The word has two r's and the sentence adds none, so it is a good test of whether your r stays light.

Where English speakers slip

Two American r's would swallow both long vowels and leave the word almost unrecognisable. Keep each r as a single flick. Learners also reduce the second syllable to a schwa by analogy with -er words, when the -aar suffix keeps its full open vowel.