Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de manier" in Dutch?

duh mah-NEER — stress on the second syllable, with a long bright "ee."

de manier /də maˈnir/

The beat falls on the second syllable, marking this out as a French borrowing — from "manière." That end-stress is systematic across the borrowed vocabulary and is one of the more reliable clues that a Dutch word is not native.

Listen: de manier

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Sound it out

ma- An unstressed opening: m plus a short a, passing quickly on the way to the beat.

n A clean n opening the stressed syllable, tongue tip on the ridge.

ie A long bright "ee" carrying the primary stress. This digraph always means this vowel, in every Dutch word.

r A light closing tap or scrape once the vowel is done, kept brief enough not to colour it.

Hear it in a sentence

Er is geen andere manier.

There's no other way.

Listen: Er is geen andere manier.

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"Er is geen andere manier" uses the inflected "andere" before a de-word and "geen" to negate the noun. The existential "er" opens the sentence, so there are three unstressed elements before the accent finally lands.

Where English speakers slip

Front-stressing to "MA-nier" is the reflex error. Learners also read "ie" as two vowels or as the diphthong of "pie." And the r at the end invites the American treatment, which shortens the long "ee" that the stress is supposed to be highlighting.