/ˈaɪ.pə/

Dutch

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO nld · Glottolog · 25,000,000 speakers
22
Consonants
36
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Dutch — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 58 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

approximant

β̞ ~ j ~

fricative

ɦ ~ f ~ v ~ ɣ ~ x ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

z ~ s ~ ʒ * ʃ *

stop

t ~ d ~ p ~ b ~ ʔ * k ~

trill

ʀ ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ oː ~ u ~ uː ~ y ~ ɔː ~ œ ~ øː ~ œː ~ yː ~ ʏ ~ œy ~ ɔu ~ œyː ~ ɔuː ~ i ~ ɪ ~ iː ~ ɑː ~ ɑ ~ ɑuː ~ ɑu ~ ɛi ~ ɛiː ~ æː ~ æ ~ ə ~ ɛ ~ eː ~ ɛː ~ aː ~ iːə ~ oːə ~ uːə ~ yːə ~ ɔːə ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
58
phonemes

Dutch has 58 phonemes, placing it in the 91th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Dutch, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Dutch, not in English (41)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

β̞ ɦ ɣ x t p ʔ k ʀ ɔ u uː y ɔː œ øː œː yː ʏ œy ɔu œyː ɔuː ɪ ɑː ɑ ɑuː ɑu ɛi ɛiː æː æ ə eː ɛː aː iːə oːə uːə yːə ɔːə

In English, not in Dutch (28)

English speakers learning Dutch won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h pʰ t̠ʃ w e ʊ ɡ ts d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Dutch →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

GERMAN 48%
Compare →
Afrikaans 41%
Compare →
Slovene 36%
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Finnish 35%
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Lao 35%
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Compare Dutch with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao