Dutch · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "zoeken" in Dutch?

Q: How do you pronounce zoeken in Dutch?

zoeken is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈzukə(n)/. It means “to look for.” ZOO-kuh — the "oo" of boot under the stress, and a barely-voiced z at the front.

ZOO-kuh — the "oo" of boot under the stress, and a barely-voiced z at the front.

zoeken /ˈzukə(n)/

The long rounded vowel under the accent is what shapes this word. Set it beside "zeggen": both are front-stressed, but one has a long open-syllable vowel and the other a short one closed by a doubled consonant. Dutch rhythm is spelled out for you if you read the consonants.

Listen: zoeken

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Sound it out

z Weakly voiced at the start of the word in northern Dutch, close enough to s that the difference is often inaudible to English ears.

oe A pure "oo" as in "boot," lips rounded and tongue back. One vowel from two letters, never "oh-eh."

k Unaspirated, released quietly between the syllables.

en Dropping the n here makes the infinitive sound like the noun "zoeker" minus its r — a reminder of how little these endings contribute acoustically.

Hear it in a sentence

Ik zoek een restaurant.

I'm looking for a restaurant.

Listen: Ik zoek een restaurant.

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"Ik zoek een restaurant" uses the stem and the French loanword "restaurant," which keeps final-syllable stress, res-tow-RANT, and often a nasalised ending in careful Dutch. So the sentence starts with a native front-stressed verb and ends with a borrowed end-stressed noun — a common Dutch mix.

Where English speakers slip

The oe becomes "oh" or splits into two vowels for readers going letter by letter. It is one long "oo." Grammatically, "zoeken" already means "to look for," so adding a preposition — "ik zoek voor een restaurant" — is a direct translation from English that Dutch does not accept.