Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "zeggen" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce zeggen in Dutch?

zeggen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈzɛɣə(n)/. It means “to say.” ZEKH-khuh — short "eh" and then the rasping Dutch g, with the final n normally dropped.

ZEKH-khuh — short "eh" and then the rasping Dutch g, with the final n normally dropped.

zeggen /ˈzɛɣə(n)/

Stressed on the first syllable, but with the odd effect that the harshest sound in the word — the g — falls in the unstressed part. That is common in Dutch and worth noting: the fricative does not need stress to be fully audible, and softening it because the syllable is weak is a mistake.

Listen: zeggen

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Sound it out

z Lightly voiced at the start, sitting close to s in northern speech.

e Short lax "eh," kept brief by the doubled g behind it.

gg One fricative, not two. The doubling is a spelling device to keep the e short, and the sound itself is the usual scraping friction at the soft palate.

en The ending that makes this an infinitive rather than the stem "zeg." It reduces to a mumble, which means the fricative before it has to carry the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik weet niet wat ik moet zeggen.

I don't know what to say.

Listen: Ik weet niet wat ik moet zeggen.

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"Ik weet niet wat ik moet zeggen" ends with the infinitive after the modal "moet," and the whole subordinate clause reorders around it. Say it and you will hit two different fricatives in quick succession — the g of "zeggen" preceded by nothing softer than the t of "moet."

Where English speakers slip

The doubled g gets read as an English hard g, and often doubled for good measure: "zeg-gen." Neither is right. It is a single continuous scrape. English speakers also lengthen the first vowel toward "zay-"; the short "eh" is what the doubled consonant is telling you to keep.