You are here: grammar > spelling & pronunciation > long vowels
Long vowels
  • Click here to print this page. Only the contents of the middle column will be printed.
  • Send this page by e-mail
  • Bookmark this page [IE]
  • Report an error [anything: typos, broken links, a bad explanation]

This is an internal web link, which will open in the same window.Spelling exercises   This is an external web link, which will open a new browser window.Dutch spelling reform in 2006 

English version by Bieneke Berendsen :: other languages
Long vowels can be formed in three ways:
  1. double vowel: two identical vowels in a row
  2. vowel combination: two different vowels in a row that merge into (more or less) one vowel.
  3. single open vowel: a single vowel at the end of a syllable
With the exception of y, each vowel has a short and a long form:

 short a [ɑ] e [ɛ] i [ɪ] o [ɔ] u [ʏ]
 long aa [a] ee [e] ie [i] oo [o] uu [y]

Click This is a sound file, which will open your media player.here to hear what the vowels sound like (in the following order: a, aa, e, ee, i, ie, o, oo, u, uu).

Note that long i is not formed by doubling the vowel, but by adding the letter e: ie.
Questions? Questions?
     Visit our forum!