Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de winkel" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce de winkel in Dutch?

de winkel is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /də ˈʋɪŋkəl/. It means “shop / store.” duh VING-kul — soft lip-teeth w, the n turning velar before k, and a weak -el ending.

duh VING-kul — soft lip-teeth w, the n turning velar before k, and a weak -el ending.

de winkel /də ˈʋɪŋkəl/

Front-stressed with the -el ending taking nothing, the same shape as "tafel" and "sleutel." That ending is one of the most reliable stress signposts in Dutch: whenever a word ends in unstressed -el, the accent is on the syllable before it.

Listen: de winkel

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Sound it out

w Bring the bottom lip up to the teeth and let the air slide past with minimal obstruction. No lip protrusion whatsoever.

i A tight, relaxed vowel sealed by the nasal cluster behind it — the same sound as in English "wink."

nk The n assimilates to a velar nasal before the k, tongue tip staying down. English does exactly the same in "wink," so this cluster needs no retraining.

el Schwa plus a bright l, so weak that the l almost becomes the syllable on its own. Keep the tongue tip forward.

Hear it in a sentence

De winkel sluit om zeven uur.

The shop closes at seven.

Listen: De winkel sluit om zeven uur.

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"De winkel sluit om zeven uur" uses "om" for clock time, and "sluit" contains the rounded ui diphthong. So the sentence puts a difficult vowel right in the middle, between two straightforward ones.

Where English speakers slip

The rounded English w is the immediate giveaway, and the dark l at the end is the second. Both are small fixes with large effects. Learners also give the -el ending a full vowel, producing "WIN-kell," when it should be barely there at all.