Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "denken" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce denken in Dutch?

denken is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈdɛŋkə(n)/. It means “to think.” DENK-uh — short "eh," the n turns velar before k as in English "sink," and the final n drops.

DENK-uh — short "eh," the n turns velar before k as in English "sink," and the final n drops.

denken /ˈdɛŋkə(n)/

The cluster gives the opening syllable real substance: vowel plus velar nasal plus stop is a lot of material for one beat. Its contrast with the near-empty second syllable is what shapes the word.

Listen: denken

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Sound it out

d Voiced, tongue against the upper teeth, no aspiration.

e The vowel of "bed," kept short by the consonant cluster behind it.

nk The n assimilates to a velar /ŋ/ before the k — the tongue tip never rises. Exactly the same thing happens in English "think," so this cluster is one you already own.

en Unlike the n inside the nk cluster, this one does not assimilate to anything — and it is usually not there at all.

Hear it in a sentence

Wat denk je ervan?

What do you think about it?

Listen: Wat denk je ervan?

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"Wat denk je ervan?" uses "ervan," one of Dutch's pronominal adverbs — you cannot say "van het" for a thing, so "van" fuses with "er" and moves. That construction has no English parallel and is one of the genuinely alien features of Dutch grammar, tucked into a four-word question.

Where English speakers slip

Phonetically this word is friendly to English speakers, so the errors are grammatical. "Denken" takes "aan" for thinking about something — "ik denk aan jou" — and "over" for having an opinion, and beginners reach for "van" by analogy with the example sentence. The one sound to watch is the final syllable, which should be a mumble, not a distinct "-ken."