Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "negen" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce negen in Dutch?

negen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈneːɣə(n)/. It means “nine.” NAY-khuh — long "ay," then the rasping Dutch g, and the final n normally dropped.

NAY-khuh — long "ay," then the rasping Dutch g, and the final n normally dropped.

negen /ˈneːɣə(n)/

First syllable takes the beat, and the drop-off to the second is steep. That NAY-khuh shape mirrors "zeven," "eten" and "geven" — once the pattern clicks, two-syllable Dutch words stop needing individual attention.

Listen: negen

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Sound it out

n An everyday n to open, no adjustment needed from English.

e (first) Long and tense, like the vowel of "nay." The syllable is open, so the single e stretches automatically.

g Here the fricative sits between two vowels, which makes it slightly softer and more voiced than a word-final g — but it is still continuous friction at the soft palate, not a stop.

en The n here is optional in a way English endings never are: Dutch speakers drop it without any loss of clarity, because nothing else in the language ends this way.

Hear it in a sentence

Mijn zoon is negen jaar.

My son is nine years old.

Listen: Mijn zoon is negen jaar.

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"Mijn zoon is negen jaar" leaves "jaar" singular after the number, which Dutch does with ages and measurements. The sentence also runs the ij diphthong of "mijn" and the long "oo" of "zoon" back to back, so it doubles as a vowel-contrast drill before you even reach the numeral.

Where English speakers slip

The g gets converted into the English hard g of "negative" nine times out of ten, which turns a fricative into a stop and instantly flags a foreign speaker. Keep the air moving. Learners also import the short vowel of English "neg-" when Dutch needs a long "ay," and they pronounce the closing n more crisply than any Dutch speaker would.