Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ook" in Dutch?

ohk — a long pure "oh" and a clean k. Nothing like English "look" or "oak."

ook /oːk/

It frequently carries genuine emphasis, because it is an additive particle: the whole point of saying "ook" is to add something to what came before. Its position in the sentence shifts its weight too — placed right before the element it applies to, it takes the run-up and that element takes the peak.

Listen: ook

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Sound it out

oo Long and steady "oh," the doubled letter marking length. Hold one tongue position throughout instead of gliding toward "oo" the way English "oak" does.

k Unaspirated final stop. Cut the vowel off cleanly with the back of the tongue and release without a puff.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik kom ook.

I'm coming too.

Listen: Ik kom ook.

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"Ik kom ook" is as short as a Dutch sentence gets, and "ook" lands at the end where English would say "too." Its placement is doing real work: move it to "ook ik kom" and the meaning shifts to "I too am coming" with the emphasis on the speaker rather than the coming.

Where English speakers slip

The double o pulls English speakers toward the "oo" of "book" or "look," producing "ook" as in the sound a cartoon makes. Dutch oo is an "oh." The other habitual error is the English glide at the end of that vowel — say "oh" and freeze the lips rather than letting them close toward a w.