Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het oog" in Dutch?

ut OHKH — a long flat "oh" starting the word, then the harsh Dutch fricative.

het oog /ət ˈoːx/

One beat, and the plural is where the word changes character: "ogen" adds a schwa syllable and turns a harsh word-final fricative into a gentle intervocalic one. The two forms sound quite different despite the accent staying put.

Listen: het oog

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Sound it out

oo Long and pure, opening the word with no consonant in front. Start cleanly on the vowel rather than cushioning it with a glottal catch.

g Full-strength scraping friction at the very end. The plural "ogen" moves it between vowels, where it becomes markedly gentler.

Hear it in a sentence

Zij heeft groene ogen.

She has green eyes.

Listen: Zij heeft groene ogen.

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"Zij heeft groene ogen" uses the plural with its softened g and the inflected adjective "groene," whose own g stays hard because it is word-initial. So the sentence gives you the same letter in two different acoustic guises.

Where English speakers slip

Hardening the closing g, or dropping it altogether, are the two usual outcomes. It is a sustained scrape and it belongs there. Learners also glide the opening "oh" toward "oo" on the English model. Because the word starts on a bare vowel, resisting the urge to add a glottal stop takes conscious effort.