Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "drinken" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce drinken in Dutch?

drinken is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈdrɪŋkə(n)/. It means “to drink.” DRING-kuh — short tight i, the n turning velar before k, and a light Dutch r.

DRING-kuh — short tight i, the n turning velar before k, and a light Dutch r.

drinken /ˈdrɪŋkə(n)/

A short vowel wrapped in four consonants makes for a heavy opening beat, followed by an almost empty one. That shape — dense then hollow — is what gives the word its rhythmic identity, and English rarely produces the contrast this starkly.

Listen: drinken

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Sound it out

dr A voiced d into a brief tapped or scraped r. Keep the r short so it does not colour the vowel that follows.

i The vowel of English "drink" — one of the rare cases where the cognate gives you the right sound at no cost.

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

en A weak tail after a very heavy stressed syllable; the contrast in weight between the two halves is what gives the word its shape.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik drink elke dag water.

I drink water every day.

Listen: Ik drink elke dag water.

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"Ik drink elke dag water" places the frequency phrase before the object, which is the standard Dutch order and the reverse of the English "I drink water every day." That reordering is invisible in the vocabulary but very audible in how a native sentence flows.

Where English speakers slip

The sounds are nearly free here, so the errors are elsewhere: the r comes out as a curled English r, and the final syllable gets a full vowel. Say a light tap and let the ending collapse to a schwa. Beginners also carry over English word order, producing "ik drink water elke dag," which is understandable but marked.