LingoDrop
Dutch · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "moe" in Dutch?
moo — a plain "oo" as in "boot." One syllable, one vowel, nothing else.
About as short as a Dutch word gets: one consonant and one vowel, ending open. Because there is no closing consonant, the vowel's length and rounding are the only things carrying the word, so a clipped or unrounded version simply does not register.
Listen: moe
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Ik ben heel moe.
I'm very tired.
Listen: Ik ben heel moe.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
"Ik ben heel moe" puts the intensifier before the adjective and ends the sentence on an open vowel, which is unusual — most Dutch sentences close on a consonant. Let the "oo" ring rather than cutting it off.
Where English speakers slip
The spelling looks like it should be two sounds, and beginners produce "mo-eh" or "mow." It is a single "oo." Some also confuse it with "mooi," which shares the m but has a completely different vowel — "moe" is a plain back rounded vowel, "mooi" is a diphthong that travels forward.