Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "weinig" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce weinig in Dutch?

weinig is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈʋɛinəx/. It means “little / few.” VAY-nuhkh — soft lip-teeth w, the ei diphthong, and the -ig ending as a schwa plus scrape.

VAY-nuhkh — soft lip-teeth w, the ei diphthong, and the -ig ending as a schwa plus scrape.

weinig /ˈʋɛinəx/

Again the -ig suffix takes nothing, leaving the beat on the diphthong at the front. That makes this word rhythmically identical to "nodig" and "aardig" despite having a diphthong rather than a simple vowel in its stressed syllable.

Listen: weinig

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Sound it out

w Bottom lip toward the upper teeth with light contact and no rounding.

ei The diphthong rising from "eh" toward "ee" — identical in sound to the spelling ij. It carries the stress here and should be fully formed.

n The consonant that bridges the stressed syllable into the suffix, said quickly and without emphasis.

-ig The familiar suffix said /əx/: schwa plus velar friction, never an English g.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik heb weinig tijd.

I have little time.

Listen: Ik heb weinig tijd.

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"Ik heb weinig tijd" needs no article before "tijd," since Dutch treats it as an uncountable here. The ei of "weinig" and the ij of "tijd" are the same sound spelled two ways, so the sentence is a compact demonstration of that spelling trap.

Where English speakers slip

Reading ei as "eye" is the usual error, giving "WY-nig," and the suffix picks up a hard g at the same time. Both need fixing. There is also a usage point: "weinig" means little in quantity and "klein" means small in size, and English "little" covers both, so learners reach for the wrong one regularly.