Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "moeilijk" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce moeilijk in Dutch?

moeilijk is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈmujlək/. It means “difficult.” MOO-ee-luhk — "oei" is "oo" gliding to "ee," and again the -lijk is just "-luhk."

MOO-ee-luhk — "oei" is "oo" gliding to "ee," and again the -lijk is just "-luhk."

moeilijk /ˈmujlək/

The accent sits on the opening syllable with its complex vowel, and the suffix trails away. Compare "makkelijk": identical rhythm, identical suffix, opposite meaning — the two words are a matched pair rhythmically as well as semantically.

Listen: moeilijk

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Sound it out

oei A three-letter vowel sequence: start at the "oo" of "boot" and glide up to "ee." The lips begin rounded and unround as the tongue rises, all inside one syllable.

l A bright forward l bridging into the suffix, with the tongue tip up and the body low.

-lijk Pronounced /lək/ — schwa, not the ij diphthong the spelling shows. The suffix is unstressed everywhere it appears, and its vowel has eroded accordingly.

Hear it in a sentence

Nederlands is niet moeilijk.

Dutch is not difficult.

Listen: Nederlands is niet moeilijk.

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"Nederlands is niet moeilijk" puts "niet" before the adjective, which is where the negator goes when an adjective closes the clause. The language name takes no article, and its own first-syllable stress means the sentence has two front-stressed content words framing the negation.

Where English speakers slip

Two errors compound. The "oei" gets read as "oy" or "oh-ee," losing the rounded start; and "-lijk" becomes "-like." The result, "MOY-like," shares almost nothing with the Dutch word. Build it from the front: "oo" first, then let the tongue rise, then attach a mumbled "-luhk."