Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "laag" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce laag in Dutch?

laag is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /laːx/. It means “low.” lahkh — bright l, a long open "aah," and the harsh fricative at the end.

lahkh — bright l, a long open "aah," and the harsh fricative at the end.

laag /laːx/

Long vowel in, fricative out, all in one beat. Sitting it next to "hoog" is instructive: identical shape, identical rhythm, opposite meanings, and the only difference is the vowel — one long and open, one long and rounded.

Listen: laag

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Sound it out

l Bright and forward, tongue tip up. Keeping it light stops the word from sounding like English "log."

aa Duration is what separates this from the short a of "lang." Open wide and hold before the fricative arrives.

g Voiceless at the end of a word: the full velar scrape. In "lage" it slips between vowels, softens, and picks up some voicing.

Hear it in a sentence

De tafel is laag.

The table is low.

Listen: De tafel is laag.

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"De tafel is laag" ends on the adjective with the fricative exposed. "Tafel" beforehand has first-syllable stress and a schwa ending, so the sentence moves from a soft, trailing noun to a hard, scraping close — a rhythm very characteristic of Dutch.

Where English speakers slip

Anglophones produce "lahg" with a hard g, or "log" borrowing an English word wholesale. The g is friction, not a stop, and the vowel is long and open rather than short and rounded. Learners also confuse this with "laag" the noun (a layer), which is spelled and pronounced identically — only context tells them apart.