Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "maken" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce maken in Dutch?

maken is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈmaːkə(n)/. It means “to make.” MAH-kuh — long open "aah" and an unaspirated k, with the final n dropped.

MAH-kuh — long open "aah" and an unaspirated k, with the final n dropped.

maken /ˈmaːkə(n)/

First syllable takes the beat, and the open-syllable spelling is the giveaway: one a plus one consonant plus a vowel means the a is long. Compare "makken" with a doubled k, where the vowel would be short — Dutch encodes the rhythm directly in how many consonants it writes.

Listen: maken

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Sound it out

m An everyday m, nothing to change from English.

a Stretched because the syllable ends right after it. Dutch does not need to double the letter when the syllable structure already signals length.

k Released cleanly with no puff of air, unlike the k in English "make."

en Spelled with an n, said without one, in the same way English writes the b in "lamb." The letter is history, not instruction.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik maak vanavond pasta voor ons.

I'm making pasta for us tonight.

Listen: Ik maak vanavond pasta voor ons.

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"Ik maak vanavond pasta voor ons" uses the stem "maak," which restores the second a in spelling because the syllable is now closed. That alternation between "maken" and "maak" is the same spelling rule seen from the other side, and it applies to hundreds of Dutch verbs.

Where English speakers slip

English "make" contributes a diphthong — the vowel there travels from "eh" to "ee" — while Dutch holds a flat, open "aah" throughout. Learners also aspirate the k. A third habit is pronouncing the infinitive ending fully; in conversation "maken" ends on a bare schwa, and the crisp n marks you as a reader rather than a speaker.