Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "staan" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce staan in Dutch?

staan is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /staːn/. It means “to stand.” stahn — plain s in "st," a long open "aah," and one syllable only.

stahn — plain s in "st," a long open "aah," and one syllable only.

staan /staːn/

Fully stressed in one compact beat, in the same small family as "gaan," "doen" and "zien." These verbs are rhythmically tight, which matters when they land at the end of a clause and have to carry the closing beat without a schwa to lean on.

Listen: staan

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Sound it out

st A hissing s into an unaspirated t. German palatalises this cluster at the start of a word into "sht"; Dutch keeps the s clean, and this word is one of the clearest places to hear the difference.

aa The entire vowel content of the word, so give it real duration. The doubled letter marks the length.

n Root-final and firmly said. This fused one-syllable infinitive has no schwa ending to reduce.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik sta in de rij.

I'm standing in line.

Listen: Ik sta in de rij.

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"Ik sta in de rij" uses the stem "sta," which loses one a in spelling because the syllable has opened. "Rij" at the end gives you the ij diphthong, so the short sentence moves from a long flat "aah" to a gliding diphthong — a useful contrast to practise.

Where English speakers slip

German learners say "shtahn," and English learners shorten the vowel toward "stan." Both flatten the word. Beyond sound, "staan" is one of Dutch's three posture verbs, used for things that stand upright — bottles, buildings, text on a page — where English would simply say "is." Choosing it correctly takes longer to learn than pronouncing it.