Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het einde" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce het einde in Dutch?

het einde is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ət ˈɛində/. It means “end.” ut AYN-duh — the ei diphthong under the stress, then a weak schwa ending.

ut AYN-duh — the ei diphthong under the stress, then a weak schwa ending.

het einde /ət ˈɛində/

Front-stressed on the diphthong, with the second syllable a bare schwa. Compare the bare form "eind," which appears in compounds like "eindpunt": there the d devoices to t because it becomes word-final, while here the schwa protects it.

Listen: het einde

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Sound it out

ei The Dutch diphthong rising from around "eh" toward "ee." It opens the word with no consonant in front, so start cleanly on the vowel.

nd Both consonants said, and here the d keeps its voicing because a vowel follows — no devoicing applies inside a word.

e A closing schwa, colourless and weak, giving the word its second syllable without adding any real vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Dit is het einde van de film.

This is the end of the movie.

Listen: Dit is het einde van de film.

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"Dit is het einde van de film" uses "van" for the possessive relationship, and the demonstrative "dit" agrees with an implied neuter. The sentence has three unstressed function words in a row near the end, so it fades toward "film."

Where English speakers slip

Reading ei as "eye" gives "EYE-nduh," the standard beginner rendering. The Dutch diphthong starts much higher in the mouth. Learners also devoice the d by over-applying the final-devoicing rule — it is not word-final here, so it stays a genuine d.