Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het leven" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce het leven in Dutch?

het leven is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ət ˈleːvə(n)/. It means “life.” ut LAY-vuh — bright l, a long "ay," a voiced v, and no final n.

ut LAY-vuh — bright l, a long "ay," a voiced v, and no final n.

het leven /ət ˈleːvə(n)/

Front-stressed with a steep drop, and this noun is identical in form and rhythm to the infinitive "leven" (to live). Dutch nominalises verbs without changing anything at all — no stress shift, no ending — so the article is the only signal of which one you mean.

Listen: het leven

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Sound it out

l Bright and forward, tongue tip on the ridge with the body kept low.

e Long and tense, close to "ay," stretched because the syllable ends after the vowel.

v Fully voiced here, sitting between two vowels — this is the position where a Dutch v gets its proper buzz.

en The weak ending reduced to a schwa, with the n gone in ordinary speech. The word finishes on a breath.

Hear it in a sentence

Het leven is mooi.

Life is beautiful.

Listen: Het leven is mooi.

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"Het leven is mooi" ends on the adjective, whose diphthong travels from a rounded "oh" toward "ee." The reduced article at the start means the whole sentence has just two real beats, on LE- and on MOOI.

Where English speakers slip

The English "leaven" and "eleven" both pull the vowel toward "eh," while Dutch has a long "ay." Learners also devoice the v by over-applying the rule about weak initial v — between vowels it keeps its buzz. And the final n gets pronounced, which makes the word sound read rather than spoken.