Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de tas" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de tas in Dutch?

de tas is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈtɑs/. It means “bag.” duh TAHS — a quiet t, an open back "ah," and a clean hiss.

duh TAHS — a quiet t, an open back "ah," and a clean hiss.

de tas /də ˈtɑs/

It is worth noting how many Dutch nouns share this shape — kat, tas, sap, bos — all a consonant, a short vowel and a consonant, all doubling their final letter in the plural for the same spelling reason.

Listen: de tas

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Sound it out

t Released with no puff of air — the single adjustment that separates a Dutch t from an English one.

a Open and produced at the back of the mouth, and brief. English "tass" would put the vowel further forward and flatter.

s A clean voiceless hiss closing the word. The plural "tassen" doubles it in spelling to protect the short vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik ben mijn tas thuis vergeten.

I left my bag at home.

Listen: Ik ben mijn tas thuis vergeten.

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"Ik ben mijn tas thuis vergeten" puts the past participle at the very end and the location before it, which is the standard Dutch order. Note the auxiliary is "zijn" rather than "hebben" — "vergeten" takes "zijn" when it means having left something behind.

Where English speakers slip

Aspirating the t and fronting the vowel are the two habits to break, and neither is dramatic — which is why they last. Open the throat and release the t quietly. There is also a false-friend risk: Dutch "tas" is a bag, not a task or a cup, despite resembling words in several other languages.