Dutch orthography uses the Latin alphabet. The spelling system is issued by government decree and is compulsory for all government documentation and educational establishments.
Legal basis In the Netherlands, the official spelling is regulated by the Spelling Act of 15 September 2005. This came into force on 22 February 2006, replacing the Act on the Spelling of the Dutch Language of 14 February 1947.
The Spelling Act gives the Committee of Ministers of the Dutch Language Union the authority to determine the spelling of Dutch by ministerial decision. In addition, the law requires that this spelling be followed "at the governmental bodies, at educational institutions funded from the public purse, as well as at the exams for which legal requirements have been established". In other cases, it is recommended, but it is not mandatory to follow the official spelling.
The Decree on the Spelling Regulations of 2005–2006 contains the annexed spelling rules decided by the Committee of Ministers on 25 April 2005. This decree entered into force on 1 August 2006, replacing the Spelling Decree of 19 June 1996.
In Flanders, the same spelling rules are currently applied by the Decree of the Flemish Government Establishing the Rules of the Official Spelling and Grammar of the Dutch language of 30 June 2006.
Alphabet
The modern Dutch alphabet, used for the Dutch language, consists of the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Depending on how is used, six (or five) letters are vowels and 20 (or 21) letters are consonants. In some aspects, the digraph behaves as a single letter. is the most frequently used letter in the Dutch alphabet, as it is in English. The least frequently used letters are and , similar to English.
Letter Letter name Spelling alphabetThe NATO phonetic alphabet is also used, and sometimes the two are even mixed. A Anton B Bernhard C Cornelis D Dirk E Eduard F Ferdinand G Gerard H Hendrik I Izaak J Johan/Jacob K Karel L Lodewijk/Leo M Maria N Nico O Otto P Pieter Q, , and occur mostly in loanwords, but they may also appear in words and names that reflect older spelling conventions. is almost always followed by (that is, ) because nearly every word with a is borrowed from French or Latin. Quirinus/Quinten R Richard/Rudolf S Simon T Theodoor U Utrecht V Victor W Willem X Xantippe IJThe digraph IJ behaves like a separate letter for capitalisation. In alphabetical order, may not be distinguished from (usual for telephone directories), or it may come between and (which is common in dictionaries). In Dutch primary education the (more common) digraph often replaces the (less common) as the 25th letter of the alphabet. IJmuiden/IJsbrand Y Normally, is generally called . However, when it is used in common speech and/or the need arises to distinguish the letter from , it is most often referred to as (sometimes written )('Greek Y'); i-grec, a French word having a similar meaning; or ypsilon. Ypsilon Z Zacharias
Sound to spelling correspondences Dutch uses the following letters and letter combinations. For simplicity, dialectal variation and subphonemic distinctions are not always indicated. See Dutch phonology for more information.
The following list shows letters and combinations, along with their pronunciations, found in modern native or nativised vocabulary:
+ Consonants spelling IPA normally final b ch d f g h — j — k l m n ng p r s sch , Used only in the suffix . t th In words like . — v — w — z —+ Vowels and diphthongs spelling IPA checked unstressed free a aa — aai ai au(w) e and , when unstressed, are sometimes pronounced . ee is pronounced in . eeu(w) ei eu i ie ieu(w) ij , is normally . It is exceptionally in the word and in the suffix . o oe oei oi oo — ooi ou(w) u ui uu — uw
The following additional letters and pronunciations appear in non-native vocabulary or words using older, obsolete spellings (often conserved in proper names):
+ Consonants spelling IPA normally final c , , before , , , is pronounced (or in some loanwords from Italian) and otherwise. ç The cedilla is used to indicate pronunciation as when is followed by , or . — ck ch , , is pronounced in Italian loanwords, , in loanwords from other sources. — g , , may be pronounced or before or in words of Romance or English origin. gh , gch — (i)ll is found in words from French or occasionally Spanish. j , , , is pronounced in Spanish loanwords, as a postalveolar in loanwords from other sources. ñ occurs only in a few Spanish loanwords. — ph Used only in some proper names like Zutphen. Words of Greek origin are written with but formerly with . q In the rare cases when is not followed by , it is pronounced . In those cases, is most likely a result of transliteration from languages such as Arabic. qu , is normally pronounced but as before or in loanwords from French or Spanish. s may be pronounced before a vowel in words of foreign origin. — sch , is used mostly in words of German origin. It is also finally in older Dutch spellings, which are now spelled with just sh sj and occur as independent phonemes only in words of foreign origin. The sounds are approximated using the "native" spellings and respectively. sz — Used in some proper names such as Jacobsz, as a contraction of (...'s son). ti(e) followed by a vowel is pronounced in loanwords of Latin origin. — th , is in words of Greek origin. In English loanwords, it is most often approximated with or according to the English pronunciation, or speakers may attempt to pronounce dental fricatives, as in English. tsj x , is sometimes pronounced between vowels, usually in southern dialects. y z , is in words of German or Italian origin. In Italian words, it may also be between vowels.+ Vowels and diphthongs spelling IPA checked free aaij, aay, aij, ay In diphthongs, and are obsolete spellings for . They are found mostly in names. aauw ae , is an obsolete spelling for . In Latin words, it is treated identical to . aei, aeij, aey ai au(x), eau(x) In words of French origin. è, ê , é , eij, ey eu , is pronounced as by some speakers in words of Greek origin. o, ô — oeij, oey oi , , is pronounced or in French loanwords. In archaic Dutch spellings, mostly proper nouns, it may also be (for example, Oisterwijk or Helvoirt). oo is generally in English loanwords. ooij, ooy, oij, oy ou is generally in loanwords from French or Greek. u ui , is pronounced in loanwords from French. In English loanwords, such as cruise, it is . uij, uy y , , is usually pronounced as or . It is also an obsolete spelling variant of .
Vowels groups
+ Vowels and diphthongsaeøiooeu-aaaeee -euiieooooeuuu -/øː//ɪ//oː//oː//u(ː)//ʏ//y(ː)//y(ː)//i̯/ai -aaieiij - - - - - - -oi -ooioei - - - -/ɛi̯/ - - - - - - -/ɔi̯/ -/oːi̯//ui̯/ - - -/u̯/ - - - - - -eeu(w) - - - -ieu(w)ou(w)au(w) - - - -uw - - - - - - - - - - -/ɔu̯//ɔu̯/ - - - -/yu̯/ -/y̯/ -ui - -/œy̯/ - Loanwords
Loanwords often keep their original spellings: 'gift' (from French) (this word is also informally written , but this spelling is not recognized by the standard spelling dictionary). are sometimes adapted to , but (and rarely ) are usually retained. Greek letters become , not , but usually becomes (except before a consonant, after and word finally). -- in French loanwords are written with a single () except when a schwa follows ().
Vowel length
Vowel length is always indicated but in different ways by using an intricate system of single and double letters.
Historical overview Old Dutch possessed phonemic consonant length in addition to phonemic vowel length, with no correspondence between them. Thus, long vowels could appear in closed syllables, and short vowels could occur in open syllables. In the transition to early Middle Dutch, short vowels were lengthened when they stood in open syllables. Short vowels could now occur only in closed syllables. Consonants could still be long in pronunciation and acted to close the preceding syllable. Therefore, any short vowel that was followed by a long consonant remained short.
The spelling system used by early Middle Dutch scribes accounted for that by indicating the vowel length only when it was necessary (sometimes by doubling the vowel but also in other ways). As the length was implicit in open syllables, it was not indicated there, and only a single vowel was written. Long consonants were indicated usually by doubling the consonant letter, which meant that a short vowel was always followed by at least two consonant letters or by just one consonant at the end of a word.
Later in Middle Dutch, the distinction between short and long consonants started to disappear. That made it possible for short vowels to appear in open syllables once again. Because there was no longer a phonetic distinction between single and double consonants (they were both pronounced short now), Dutch writers started to use double consonants to indicate that the preceding vowel was short even when the consonant had not been long in the past. That eventually led to the modern Dutch spelling system.
Checked and free vowels Modern Dutch spelling still retains many of the details of the late Middle Dutch system. The distinction between checked and free vowels is important in Dutch spelling. A checked vowel is one that is followed by a consonant in the same syllable (the syllable is closed) while a free vowel ends the syllable (the syllable is open). This distinction can apply to pronunciation or spelling independently, but a syllable that is checked in pronunciation will always be checked in spelling as well (except in some unassimilated loanwords).
Checked in neither: ("to leave", "to let") Checked in spelling only: ("laths") Checked in both: ("lath"), ("little lath")
A single vowel that is checked in neither is always long/tense. A vowel that is checked in both is always short/lax. The following table shows the pronunciation of the same three-letter sequence in different situations, with hyphens indicating the syllable divisions in the written form, and the IPA period to indicate them in the spoken form:
+ Pronunciation of checked and free single vowels Letter Free in both Checked in both Pronunciation ExampleMultiple syllables Pronunciation ExampleOne syllable ExampleMultiple syllables a ("windows, to estimate") ("ram") ("disasters") e ("to cultivate") ("count") ("counted") i (a name) ("tin") ("tints") o ("copper, buyer") ("cup, head") ("headed [a ball]") u (a name) ("bow" [verb]) ("bowed")
Free is fairly rare and is mostly confined to loanwords and names, since in native words /i(ː)/ is usually written as . As tense is rare except before , free is likewise rare except before .
The same rule applies to word-final vowels, which are always long because they are not followed by any consonant (but see below on ). Short vowels, not followed by any consonant, do not normally exist in Dutch, and there is no normal way to indicate them in the spelling.
Double vowels and consonants When a vowel is short/lax but is free in pronunciation, the spelling is made checked by doubling the following consonant, so that the vowel is kept short according to the default rules. That has no effect on pronunciation, as modern Dutch does not have long consonants: ram-men ("rams, to ram") tel-len ("to count") tin-nen ("made of tin") kop-pen ("cups, heads, to head [a ball]") luk-ken ("to succeed")
When a vowel is long/tense but still checked in pronunciation, it is necessarily checked in spelling as well. A change is thus needed to indicate the length, which is done by doubling the vowel. Doubled does not occur. ("window"), raam-de ("estimated") ("cultivate"), teel-de ("cultivated") ("buy, sale"), koop-sel ("something bought") (a name)
A single indicates short and long e but is also used to indicate the neutral schwa sound in unstressed syllables. Because the schwa is always short, is never followed by a double consonant when it represents . ap-pe-len ("apples") ge-ko-men ("(has) come") kin-de-ren ("children")