Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "voor" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce voor in Dutch?

voor is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /voːr/. It means “for / in front of.” fohr — softly-voiced v at the start, a long pure "oh," and a light r.

fohr — softly-voiced v at the start, a long pure "oh," and a light r.

voor /voːr/

As a preposition it is normally unstressed, but its long vowel keeps it audible. It does take a beat when used as a separable prefix or in contrast — "is dit voor mij of van jou?" — where the two prepositions are being weighed against each other.

Listen: voor

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Sound it out

v Northern Dutch barely voices this at the start of a word, so it lands close to f. English speakers who buzz it fully sound over-emphatic.

oo Long and steady "oh." The doubled letter marks length, and the tongue holds one position instead of sliding toward "oo" as it would in English "door."

r Tapped or lightly scraped after the vowel is complete. It should not swallow the vowel the way an American r does.

Hear it in a sentence

Dit cadeau is voor jou.

This gift is for you.

Listen: Dit cadeau is voor jou.

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"Dit cadeau is voor jou" ends on the emphatic pronoun "jou," and the phrase "voor jou" is where the melody peaks. Notice "cadeau" is a French loan keeping its final-syllable stress, ka-DOH, which breaks the usual Dutch first-syllable rule.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers pronounce it like "four" or "for," importing a heavy r that reshapes the vowel entirely. Say the long "oh" cleanly first and only then flick the r. The v also gets an English-strength buzz when it should be nearly breathy. Semantically, be aware that Dutch "voor" covers both "for" and "in front of," so the same word does two English jobs.