Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de politie" in Dutch?

duh poh-LEET-see — stress on the second syllable, and the "-tie" ending is said "tsee."

de politie /də poːˈlitsi/

Second-syllable stress, with the "-tie" ending unstressed but keeping a full bright vowel. That ending is one of the most reliable markers of a borrowed noun in Dutch, and it always sits just after the accented syllable.

Listen: de politie

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Sound it out

po- A quiet p plus a long "oh," unstressed but keeping its full vowel quality rather than reducing.

li- A bright l plus a long "ee," carrying the primary stress.

-tie Pronounced "tsee" — the t and the following vowel produce a ts affricate. This ending appears on hundreds of Dutch nouns and never sounds like English "-tion" or "-tea."

Hear it in a sentence

De politie helpt de toerist.

The police help the tourist.

Listen: De politie helpt de toerist.

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"De politie helpt de toerist" takes a singular verb even though the noun refers to a body of people, exactly as English does with "the police help" — though Dutch is stricter about the singular agreement here.

Where English speakers slip

The "-tie" ending is the trap: learners say "-tee" or "-shun." It is "tsee," with a genuine ts. Front-stressing to "PO-litie" is the second error. Once you learn this ending it unlocks vakantie, informatie, politie and dozens more that all behave identically.