Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het idee" in Dutch?

ut ee-DAY — two syllables with the stress firmly on the second.

het idee /ət iˈdeː/

The accent sits on the second syllable, as in the French source. This word joins the family of borrowings — idee, café, museum, milieu — that break the Dutch front-stress habit and have to be learned individually.

Listen: het idee

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Sound it out

i- A short bright "ee" opening the word, unstressed and quick. It is a full vowel rather than a schwa, but it passes fast.

d A voiced dental stop opening the stressed syllable, released cleanly and without aspiration.

ee Dutch's long e, held steady and carrying the primary stress. Because the word ends here, the vowel is fully exposed with nothing after it.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik heb een goed idee.

I have a good idea.

Listen: Ik heb een goed idee.

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"Ik heb een goed idee" leaves the adjective uninflected before a neuter noun with "een," the same exception seen in "een groot huis." The sentence builds through three light words before landing on the stressed final syllable.

Where English speakers slip

English "idea" has three syllables with the stress in the middle and a trailing schwa; Dutch has two syllables and ends on a full stressed vowel. Front-stressing gives "EE-day," which is wrong. And the final vowel must be Dutch's lower "ay," not the English "ee."