Syllables

[angie_dj]

Hello,

I am new to this forum. I am trying to go through the first chapter of the grammar section of this website, which explains Dutch syllables.

I am trying to practice breaking up Dutch words into syllables, and double checking my answers on Woordenlijst Nederlanse Taal.

My question is, when do you know when to keep a single vowel as a single syllable?

For example: why is the word "emotie" broken up into "emo-tie" and NOT "e-mo-tie"?

And why is the word "ovationeel" broken up as "ova-ti-o-neel", but not "o-va-ti-o-neel"?

Thank you.

A

[Joke]

For example: why is the word "emotie" broken up into "emo-tie" and NOT "e-mo-tie"?

And why is the word "ovationeel" broken up as "ova-ti-o-neel", but not "o-va-ti-o-neel"?

Emotie and ovationeel are broken up as e-mo-tie and o-va-ti-o-neel, respectively. I see the Woordenlijst doesn't consider single vowels at the beginning of a word as a separate syllable, but I have no idea why. You were absolutely right, these single vowels are syllables of their own and hence are pronounced as long vowels.

Joke

[andreengels]

The reason that they are shown 'wrong' in the word list, is that it is considered bad style to break off a word after a single letter syllable. So when you break off ovationeel, ova-tioneel, ovati-oneel, ovatio-neel are all considered correct, but o-vationeel is not. Still, it definitely is a separate syllable in these cases.