Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het vliegtuig" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce het vliegtuig in Dutch?

het vliegtuig is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ət ˈvlixtœyx/. It means “airplane.” ut FLEEKH-toykh — two harsh fricatives and the rounded ui diphthong in one word.

ut FLEEKH-toykh — two harsh fricatives and the rounded ui diphthong in one word.

het vliegtuig /ət ˈvlixtœyx/

A compound of "vlieg" and "tuig" with the accent on the first element, VLIEG-tuig — the standard pattern for Dutch compounds. Contrast "goedkoop," where the second element wins, and you can see why compound stress has to be learned case by case.

Listen: het vliegtuig

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Sound it out

vl A half-devoiced v into a bright forward l. Neither sound is what an English speaker would produce reading these letters.

ie A long bright "ee" carrying the primary stress. It is the only easy vowel in the word.

gt The velar scrape running into an unaspirated t, straddling the compound's internal boundary. The g devoices completely here.

ui Lips rounded and tongue mid-front, then a glide with the rounding kept. It is the hardest vowel in Dutch, and here it sits in an unstressed syllable where learners tend to give up on it.

g A second velar scrape closing the word, fully voiceless. Two of these in one word is a genuine test of stamina.

Hear it in a sentence

Het vliegtuig vertrekt over een uur.

The plane leaves in an hour.

Listen: Het vliegtuig vertrekt over een uur.

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"Het vliegtuig vertrekt over een uur" uses "over" for a future interval, where English says "in." The verb "vertrekt" carries an unstressed ver- prefix, so the sentence stacks weak syllables between two heavily-consonanted words.

Where English speakers slip

This word is a gauntlet: two velar fricatives, the ui diphthong, a soft v and a bright l. Beginners usually hard-g both fricatives and turn ui into "ow," which leaves almost nothing recognisable. Build it slowly, one element at a time — "vlieg" first, then "tuig," then join them.