Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "vragen" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce vragen in Dutch?

vragen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈvraːɣə(n)/. It means “to ask.” FRAH-khuh — softly-voiced v, long open "aah," and the scraping g before the reduced ending.

FRAH-khuh — softly-voiced v, long open "aah," and the scraping g before the reduced ending.

vragen /ˈvraːɣə(n)/

Front-loaded, and this word doubles as the plural noun "vragen" (questions) with exactly the same accent — Dutch does not shift stress to distinguish verb from noun the way English does with RE-cord and re-CORD.

Listen: vragen

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Sound it out

v Half-devoiced at the start of the word, landing between English f and v. Let the voicing build rather than leading with it.

r A quick tap or light back scrape immediately after the v — a cluster that takes practice because both sounds are made in different parts of the mouth.

aa Long open "aah," spelled with a doubled letter to mark the length. It carries the stress and should be generously held.

g Velar friction between vowels, slightly softer than at the end of a word but still a genuine scrape.

Hear it in a sentence

Mag ik je iets vragen?

Can I ask you something?

Listen: Mag ik je iets vragen?

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"Mag ik je iets vragen?" is a polite request with the modal fronted and the infinitive at the end. The object "iets" sits before the verb, which is the standard Dutch position, so the sentence builds through three light syllables before landing on VRA-gen.

Where English speakers slip

The vr- opening defeats most beginners: they either drop the r or insert a vowel, giving "vuh-RAH-gen." The two sounds have to run together. English speakers also over-buzz the v and then convert the g into a hard stop, which removes both of the word's characteristically Dutch features at once.