Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "niets" in Dutch?

neets — a long "ee" and a t-s cluster, exactly like "iets" with an n bolted on the front.

niets /nits/

It usually carries real weight, because negation is normally the point of the sentence. Compare its casual relative "niks," which has the same rhythm and a much more informal register.

Listen: niets

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Sound it out

n This is the negating element — the only thing separating this word from "iets" — so give it a clean articulation.

ie The same bright vowel as in "niet" and "iets" — these three words form a small family sharing one sound.

ts An unaspirated t running straight into a hiss, said as one gesture with no vowel wedged between them.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik wil niets.

I don't want anything.

Listen: Ik wil niets.

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"Ik wil niets" needs no separate negator: "niets" already means "nothing," so adding "niet" would be a double negative Dutch rejects. English says "I don't want anything" with two negative-ish pieces; Dutch collapses it into one word.

Where English speakers slip

Beginners produce "nyets" or "neye-ts," misreading the digraph. It is a steady "ee." The bigger error is grammatical: pairing "niets" with "niet" in the same clause, on the English model. Dutch allows only one negator per clause, and "niets" is already doing that job.