Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "het woord" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce het woord in Dutch?

het woord is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ət ˈʋoːrt/. It means “word.” ut VOHRT — soft lip-teeth w, a long flat "oh," a light r, and a final t.

ut VOHRT — soft lip-teeth w, a long flat "oh," a light r, and a final t.

het woord /ət ˈʋoːrt/

One beat carried by its long vowel. The plural adds a schwa and splits the rd cluster, which makes both the r and the d easier — it is often worth practising "woorden" first and then trimming back to the singular.

Listen: het woord

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Sound it out

w A soft labiodental with the lips deliberately spread rather than pursed — this single feature marks Dutch more immediately than any vowel does.

oo Long and pure, held at one position. It has to survive the r behind it without being shortened or coloured.

rd A light tap followed by a d that devoices to t at the end. The plural "woorden" puts the d between vowels and restores its voicing.

Hear it in a sentence

Wat betekent dit woord?

What does this word mean?

Listen: Wat betekent dit woord?

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"Wat betekent dit woord?" uses "betekenen" with its unstressed be- prefix, so the sentence has a long weak stretch in the middle before landing on the noun. The demonstrative "dit" is correct because "woord" is a neuter noun.

Where English speakers slip

The English "word" is a one-syllable word with an r-coloured vowel and a voiced final d — every part of it is wrong for Dutch. Dutch needs a labiodental w, a long clean "oh," a brief r and a final t. It is one of those words where the cognate helps with meaning and hinders with everything else.