Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "mij" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce mij in Dutch?

mij is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mɛi/. It means “me / to me.” Rhymes with English "may." One syllable, with the ij diphthong gliding from an "eh" start up toward "ee."

Rhymes with English "may." One syllable, with the ij diphthong gliding from an "eh" start up toward "ee."

mij /mɛi/

A single beat, and like "jij" this is the stressed member of a pair — "me" is the everyday weak form, "mij" the emphatic one. Choosing it puts a spotlight on the object, so the syllable naturally carries sentence stress.

Listen: mij

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Sound it out

m An ordinary m, lips closed and voice on, with nothing Dutch-specific about it.

ij The characteristic Dutch diphthong: the tongue begins around the vowel of "met" and rises toward "ee." Northern speakers start it noticeably lower than the English "ay," which gives Dutch its recognisable colour.

Hear it in a sentence

Kun je mij even helpen?

Could you help me for a second?

Listen: Kun je mij even helpen?

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"Kun je mij even helpen?" tucks "mij" between the pronoun and the little word "even," which softens the request into "just for a second." Dutch questions invert the verb to the front, so "kun je" opens the sentence and the object pronoun sits third — a word order English speakers have to consciously build.

Where English speakers slip

The instinct is to read "mij" as "my," since English speakers know that meaning and the letters look close. But the Dutch diphthong does not begin with the wide-open "ah" of "my"; it starts mid-front, around "eh," and moves up. Saying "my" instead lands you on the Dutch diphthong "ei/ij" mispronounced as "ai," which is a different vowel entirely.