Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "wat" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce wat in Dutch?

wat is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʋɑt/. It means “what.” vaht — soft lip-teeth w, open back "ah," quiet t. Not the English "what."

vaht — soft lip-teeth w, open back "ah," quiet t. Not the English "what."

wat /ʋɑt/

As a question word it takes the melodic peak, but Dutch also uses "wat" as an unstressed quantifier meaning "some" — "wat brood," a bit of bread. The same three letters swing between fully stressed and barely there depending on the job they are doing.

Listen: wat

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Sound it out

w Lower lip toward the upper teeth, airflow only lightly obstructed. Softer than English v and completely unrounded, unlike English w.

a Back of the mouth, in and out fast. English "what" uses a very different vowel depending on the accent; Dutch wants a clipped "ah" every time.

t Released quietly. In fast speech it often assimilates into the next word's initial consonant.

Hear it in a sentence

Wat wil je doen?

What do you want to do?

Listen: Wat wil je doen?

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"Wat wil je doen?" fronts the question word, puts the finite verb second, and sends the infinitive to the very end. The pronoun "je" between them is completely unstressed, so the sentence has two peaks — on WAT and on DOEN — with a valley in between.

Where English speakers slip

The English "what" is a strong magnet: it brings a rounded w and, for many speakers, a lengthened vowel. Dutch needs the labiodental w and a short back "ah." Beginners also confuse "wat" with "dat" in rapid listening, since they differ only in the opening consonant — sharpening that w helps in both directions, speaking and hearing.