Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de sleutel" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de sleutel in Dutch?

de sleutel is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈsløːtəl/. It means “key.” duh SLUH-tul — plain s, a bright l, the rounded eu vowel, and a weak -el ending.

duh SLUH-tul — plain s, a bright l, the rounded eu vowel, and a weak -el ending.

de sleutel /də ˈsløːtəl/

Another -el word, with the accent at the front. It contains two l's in quite different roles — one bright and adjacent to the stress, one carrying a reduced syllable — which is a useful contrast in a single word.

Listen: de sleutel

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Sound it out

sl A sharp s into a bright forward l, with no palatalisation and no darkening.

eu Lips rounded as if for "oo," tongue forward as if for "ay," held simultaneously. The vowel of French "deux," and it carries the primary stress.

t A proper stop between the vowels, never flapped into a d as American English would do.

el A neutral vowel and a bright l, and in fast speech the l can carry the syllable on its own with the vowel disappearing entirely.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik heb de sleutel van het huis.

I have the key to the house.

Listen: Ik heb de sleutel van het huis.

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"Ik heb de sleutel van het huis" uses "van" for the possessive relationship and ends on the difficult ui diphthong. So the sentence pairs the rounded eu of "sleutel" with the rounded ui of "huis" — two front-rounded vowels English does not have.

Where English speakers slip

The eu becomes "you" or "oo," giving "SLOO-tul" or "SLYOO-tul." Neither is close: the tongue must be forward while the lips are rounded. Learners also flap the t and darken the final l. Fix the vowel first, since it is the word's defining feature.