Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de schoen" in Dutch?

duh s-KHOON — sch is a hiss plus the harsh fricative, then the "oo" of boot.

de schoen /də ˈsxun/

One beat that is slow to reach, because two fricatives must be produced before the vowel arrives. The plural "schoenen" adds a schwa, but the opening cluster is unchanged and needs exactly the same care.

Listen: de schoen

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Sound it out

sch Two sounds, not one: a clean s followed by the velar scrape. English "sh" is a single sound made in a different place, and substituting it is the most recognisable learner error in Dutch.

oe A full rounded "oo" with the tongue back. After two fricatives it is a relief, and it carries the whole beat.

n A clean final n, tongue tip on the ridge, closing the rounded vowel off.

Hear it in a sentence

Deze schoen is te klein.

This shoe is too small.

Listen: Deze schoen is te klein.

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"Deze schoen is te klein" uses "te" for "too," not "to" — a small word doing very different work from its English lookalike. The adjective ends the sentence with its ei diphthong fully exposed.

Where English speakers slip

"Shoon" with an English sh is what almost everyone says first, helped along by the English cognate "shoe." Dutch splits the cluster: hiss, then scrape. Practise it beside "school," "schoon" and "schrijven" — four words that all begin the same way and all get mangled the same way.