Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "schrijven" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce schrijven in Dutch?

schrijven is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈsxrɛivə(n)/. It means “to write.” s-KHRAY-vuh — the sch is s plus the harsh Dutch fricative, never English "sh."

s-KHRAY-vuh — the sch is s plus the harsh Dutch fricative, never English "sh."

schrijven /ˈsxrɛivə(n)/

First-syllable stress, but that syllable takes a long time to arrive because three consonants precede the vowel. Do not rush them to reach the beat — the s, the fricative and the r each need their moment, and compressing them is what produces the mangled "shry-ven."

Listen: schrijven

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Sound it out

sch Two sounds, not one: a hissing s immediately followed by the velar scrape. English "sh" is a single sound made in a completely different place, and using it here is one of the most recognisable learner errors in Dutch.

r A quick tap or light back scrape, threaded between the fricative and the vowel. This makes a three-consonant onset that takes real practice.

ij The stressed diphthong, gliding from "eh" up toward "ee."

v Fully voiced between vowels. In the stem "schrijf" it moves to the end and devoices into f.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik schrijf een brief.

I'm writing a letter.

Listen: Ik schrijf een brief.

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"Ik schrijf een brief" uses the stem with its devoiced final f, and "brief" ends in the same sound — so the sentence closes with two f-endings in quick succession. The article "een" reduces to a schwa between them, giving "skhryf-uhn-BREEF."

Where English speakers slip

English speakers see sch and say "sh," producing "SHRY-ven." Dutch sch is a sequence: hiss first, then scrape. German speakers make the opposite error, saying "shr-" as in German "schreiben," which is equally wrong. Add the near-universal reading of ij as "eye" and this word ends up with three errors in its first four letters.