Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "de zon" in Dutch?

duh SON — barely-voiced z, a short rounded o, and a clean n.

de zon /də ˈzɔn/

An instructive pair with "zoon" (son), which differs from it only in vowel length — short here, long there. Dutch relies on that single contrast to keep two very common words apart.

Listen: de zon

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Sound it out

z Weakly voiced at the start, sitting close enough to s that many English listeners cannot tell them apart.

o Lips slightly pursed and the vowel kept brief — nearer British "son" than the American version, which unrounds it.

n A clean closing n with the tongue tip on the ridge, held just long enough to be heard.

Hear it in a sentence

De zon schijnt vandaag.

The sun is shining today.

Listen: De zon schijnt vandaag.

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"De zon schijnt vandaag" uses "schijnen" for shining, which opens with the sch cluster and carries the ij diphthong. So the sentence puts one of Dutch's hardest consonant sequences right after its easiest noun.

Where English speakers slip

Learners lengthen the vowel and land on "zoon" instead, which changes the meaning entirely. Keep it short and rounded. The z also gets over-buzzed on the English model — Dutch gives it very little voicing at the start of a word.