Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de reis" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de reis in Dutch?

de reis is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈrɛis/. It means “trip / journey.” duh RAYS — a quick Dutch r, the ei diphthong, and a clean hissing s.

duh RAYS — a quick Dutch r, the ei diphthong, and a clean hissing s.

de reis /də ˈrɛis/

One beat, and the plural is a good illustration of Dutch consonant alternation: "reizen" swaps s for z because the consonant is now between vowels. The accented diphthong is untouched — only the ending changes.

Listen: de reis

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Sound it out

r A tongue-tip flick or a soft back scrape, and it must be brief — a curled English r would swallow the diphthong that follows.

ei Rising from around the vowel of "met" toward "ee." It sounds identical to the ij spelling, which is why "reis" and a hypothetical "rijs" would be homophones.

s A clean voiceless hiss closing the word. The plural "reizen" turns it into a voiced z between vowels, which is why the spelling changes.

Hear it in a sentence

De reis duurt drie uur.

The trip takes three hours.

Listen: De reis duurt drie uur.

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"De reis duurt drie uur" uses "duren" for lasting, and the verb's own "uu" is the rounded front vowel. So the sentence puts a diphthong and a rounded vowel back to back, which is a genuinely useful pairing to practise.

Where English speakers slip

Reading ei as "eye" gives "rice," the standard beginner rendering. The Dutch diphthong starts mid-front. Learners also curl the r American-style, which colours the vowel from the front. And the plural spelling trips people up in writing — "reisen" is wrong, it must be "reizen."