How to pronounce the R in Dutch / Flemish

Following up on our alphabet videos, it's time to go into depth with a letter that might be confusing for a lot of you: the R. This letter actually has several variations - all of them are correct but it depends on the region in the Netherlands and Belgium how you would pronounce it. Let me explain...
Two other letters that many students find difficult are the G and the H. If you want to learn how to pronounce them correctly, check out this video: • How to pronounce the g...
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[@iphonepokemon]

The “French R” (uvular fricative) is consistently used by native speakers from The Hague.

[@avianokke2281]

I am Swedish, that is a big advantage. I can say all the R's In Sweden we actually use all the R's. However, we don't use the back of the tongue, but it sounds the same.

[@antoniomonteiro2856]

Thank you for such a great video. That makes those sounds really clear! You are the best Dutch teacher on KZbin.

[@jonathanemslander6896]

Agreed!

[@holz6661]

A bit long-winded...

[@huwfylt]

I was born missing some of the muscles at the back of my mouth so I'll never be able to roll my r's :(

[@goldenbear13]

lots of people can't speak it with all the muscles 😅

[@HeavenlyAsHell]

As a flemish person, if you are trying to learn Dutch, the fact that you are trying is so great, even if you haven't mastered that specific R

[@dequidaqwadoa1553]

Helpful ? Are you kidding me ? Thanks to your awesome way of teaching and explaining I am dedicated to learning Dutch now ! Thank you so much for making these videos ! Awesome 💖💖

[@lilbangtan2957]

Hi! I just started learning dutch, Spanish is my mother language but it's still difficult for me to pronounce the R properly hahaha thanks for your help!

[@karina7014]

Thanks for great video! It's really helpful to hear many examples at once!

[@spa97229]

What an excellent teacher! I'm glad I found you on KZbin. Can't believe how well you speak English and how well you explain everything. Dutch is a hobby of mine having lived in Den Haag for 3 years (long long ago). Thank you and keep it up

[@TheMichaelK]

We also use the rolled R in Low Saxon (Low German)

[@alfonsmelenhorst9672]

We do it also in the Low Saxon dialect in the Netherlands, but not at the end of word.

[@TheMichaelK]

@@alfonsmelenhorst9672 You’re right, similar here too. It is more like an ah sounds - mostly.. as i've have heard some older people saying "water" (LS for… water) in some dialects like with the v like in English v and the R being rolled at the end. But most

[@seriouslywondering4]

Dankjewel! I just started to learn Dutch and I think the R is so pretty but I've heard it so many different ways in DUtch so I needed to be sure LOL

[@serenademaddis570]

That's the video I was looking for! Very clear and helpful ^^ Dank je wel! :D

[@whataheavenlywaytolive]

For anyone who's sad they can't roll their rs and feel like it's impossible to learn, its not!!! As a kid i was very jealous of my sister who could and taught myself how to do it too! I don't remember exactly how i did it but it was a lot of trying and practicing, it takes time but you'll get there, i believe in you!!!

[@lolwereallgoingtodie8611]

Could you maybe ask your sister again? Haha I’m really trying to roll my r but I can’t do it

[@matheussilva8194]

If you’re American, when you say the words ladder and better, you’re making the alveolar tap, the trill is when you continue it

[@herbertdarick7693]

I am a Dutchman and I haven't been being able to pronounce the tongue r for all the time I have been living in the Czech Republic. It's a real handicap, because it's a necessity in Czech. Nout, your Dutch pronunciation of the r is how I do it and it sounds perfect! No worries!

[@ahporellos]

Great, this is what I was looking for, thank you. What about a video on False Friends with English?

[@Purple_Box]

Here in Finland the rolling R is the only possible way, no matter what part of the country you are from and what dialect you speak. Everything else is a speech ’defect’. In Sweden and Norway they have regions where other R’s are possible.

[@lienbijs1205]

Many Dutch people can't do the rolling R at all, how hard they try. They do the " french" R. So it seems not so easy to learn. This " hot potato R" is called in Dutch the " Gooise R". You can make that sound maybe more easy, like many Dutch, by folding your tongue backwards.

[@roxanairinaalbu9929]

Very useful movie and great channel you created. Congratulations and keep the great work!

[@kojimayuhay]

Met a Dutch dude named Roul, couldn’t quite pronounce his initial R the way he did so I just gave up and called him Raul with a Spanish accent lol He actually encourages people to do so just to keep it simple haha

[@TJ-cj7en]

This was really helpful!

[@Frahamen]

In Gent we used the "happy cat sound" for the letter r.

[@carmentotcarmen7872]

It was extremely helpful for me. Thank youu!!

[@manuelpereira1823]

I would like to know how to use de inverse (when to use it , well soort of sentences),dank je

[@isaoliveira7639]

oh god so happy i found your video! I think with some practice now i'll be able to do it ahah

[@AnaPaulaRocha08]

Seus métodos de ensinar pronúncia são mesmo muito bons! Suspeitei que vc fosse logopediste 😆 🔝👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@desmorgens3120]

Gij zijt één der beste leraren ter wereld. Thou art one of the best teachers in the world. I love your class. Your power is your explanation in English. You do it with full English. That helps all people in the world who want to know Dutch. The first step is "to know"...and then "love" appears. Yesterday, I liked your class. Today, I love your class. For hundreds of years, Dutch had been employed as formal language in Indonesia. Our great grand parents could speak and understand Dutch. Today, who can speak Dutch in my country? We understand only Indonesian and some of us understand English. But, many of us are still in the step of "wanting to know Dutch", I believe. Seeing a video with English explanation helps a lot. You not only give us adequate knowledge of Dutch, but also give us motivation in knowing Dutch more and more. Therefore, I said...you are best teacher of Dutch I have ever seen in KZbin. Keep on doing what you are doing. God helpe U gezondheid en veel geld! Do make an e-book to summarize the contents of your videos someday!

[@DutchGo]

Thank you so much for such kind words. I'm blushing. :-) An e-book, maybe someday...?

[@xolang]

my grandpa was also educated in Dutch. you're right though that barely anybody knows Dutch in Indonesia. understandably, because afaik (unlike other european colonizers) the Dutch never really intended to spread the language. in fact Dutch were supporting the spread of Malay and preferred to use Malay themselves for decrees and news meant for the masses since using Malay they were able to reach so many people in the huge archipelago.

[@zar5989]

Hello Nout! Thanks for the video, very interesting! I’m Italian but I live in Brussels and I fluently speak English and French as well. Now I started studying Dutch. Problem is that I’ve never learned the typical Italian rolled R (even though I grew up there) but instead I have an R which is very similar to the French one, quite typical in my Italian region (Piedmont). I’m pretty sure I’m not able to learn the rolled R, unless I’ll pay a professional to teach me and I am sorry to hear that I could have problems with that learning Dutch🙁. Nonetheless, I think people would appreciate either way, especially here in Brussels where the most spoken language is French.

[@DutchGo]

Yes, I can understand. In general, if you really want to speak accentless then yeah, hire a speech therapist to help you with that and see how far you can get. Having said that, I'm not sure if it would result in you not being understood. I haven't heard you speak so I can't give you a proper estimation but that's my two cents. You're most likely going to have some kind of accent either way so really only consider spending money on a speech therapist if you feel like you can't get any further.

[@DutchGo]

And this is also nothing against speech therapists, what they do is extremely valuable and important. The point is rather that in these impredictable times, you don't spend money on things that aren't absolutely necessary and rather in the process of language learning focus on the things that are important. Which it might very well be, depending on your accent. But it's the not the be-all and end-all of things.

[@zar5989]

Dutch & Go with Nout 👋 ...en dank je wel voor je antwoord! I only started studying Dutch so I’m still at the very basics. Personally, I’m the kind of person that cares about accents quite a lot, but I also believe that it is nice to have something that makes yourself unique, in some sense. I will definitely not hire a speech therapist for that reason; again, nothing against it, my sister wants to become one. Consider that I have that wrong R even in Italian, my native tongue, and I’m super fine with it (still sounding native, of course): it never resulted being a problem growing up. I’ve always considered it as something that made myself sound a little different and I was proud of it. Punch line: I think it is important to sound natural and being well understood, then if you still have some residual accent that is still fine and it tells about where you are from and the struggle you faced learning your (in my case 5th) language.

[@DutchGo]

@@zar5989 Thanks for the lovely reply! Exactly. An accent is a badge of honour so wear it proudly. It reflects your journey.

[@nurailidepaepe2783]

i'm a native speaker and i can't roll my r with my tongue

[@nurailidepaepe2783]

@Il Camorrista lmao? k then

[@ijansk]

I am a native Spanish speaker and we have two Rs in Spanish, a soft one and the strong trilling R. Because of my tongue, I think it is the frenulum, I have a bit of a problem reproducing the trilling R. I can make the sound decently, but not stereotypically perfect. My tongue can't vibrate properly and continuously. But one always find a way to produce difficult sounds even if it is not perfect.

[@williamsaraiva4562]

It's very hard to me from Portuguese language, because we have so many ways to pronounce the letter "r" and that's why is so difficult to understand what kind o "r" the dutch uses. For example, spanish "r" is so easy to pronounce, the same with Hebrew, french and german "rs". But, when I hear a Dutchman speaks there are so many variations so hard to distinguish. That's a problem when you have many variations of "r". I am descendent of dutch, now that I interested in Dutch language. A very good video class. Thank you! Bedankt!

[@grietdierick4986]

It's very easy: use the english R in the Netherlands and the spanish R in Belgium. Nao disse o 'R' portugues porque o R (no inicio duma palavra) em Portugues nao é facil 😏

[@emelienivala2328]

Thank you for the explanation! I have a couple questions: what if the R is almost at the beginning?(Vragen, brengen...) or if it's in the middle/end but followed by a vowel? (Kinderen, luisteren...)

[@DutchGo]

That would be also the rolling vibrating "r" technically.

[@katoestievenart8820]

i'm literally from belgium and never realised i actually have the french r... i have an accent from a country which i am not even from in my mother tongue

[@chrystianaw8256]

I'm also belgian but use the rolling r

[@user-oq2fm9xm3g]

I NEEDED this video, I was so confused. Thank you !

[@Jefff72]

I'm trying to learn some Dutch because I will be in North Holland this summer. I'm an American and live in Germany and speak German as a second language. I'm used to the rhotic R due to my American English but trained myself to use the rolling R and soft r (or whatever you call it) at the end when speaking German. I have to retrain to use the rhotic r in Dutch.

[@HeavenlyAsHell]

Geweldige video Nout! I'm sending this to my fiancé in hopes he might want to try and learn some dutch! (He's Australian and I'm West-Flemish! My name is Marieke (such a dutch name) and even my fiancé has troubles pronouncing it with the R :P Maybe this will help :D

[@supertrooper73]

Hello! Just came accross your video. I love your lessons here but was just wondering where you learned English as it sounds very American/ Canadian. Thanks

[@vonseven]

wow, such a gifted teacher

[@YuriLiman]

Thank you! I noticed that sometimes 'r' is softened at the end of the word like 'vier' (pronouced something like 'vierj' (I do not how to transcribe it properly). I do not mean weaker pronunciation but namely softened. And I cannot figure out when it happens, I seem to have heard in Belgian Dutch but when you illustrate Flemish pronunciation you do not seem to do it. Could you kindly advise what is applicable in this case? Thank you

[@okay8877]

Rollende R omdat het makkelijk is om te leren of jij kan ook Huig-R proberen

[@yahooostar]

I will add somthing. Mostly ladies in netherlands use French like R. (French R is slightly different by the way). As an example mostly brother has a rolling R and sister a French like R. Its strange, but true. Start observing, you’ll believe me😃

[@zegmijnnaam]

It was really easy for me to pronounce first and second cases of the letter "r" use, because my native is Russian, and English "r" is not that hard by itself. But the pronunciation of the words like "drie" is the real badass thing to try. Bedankt voor de video!

[@richtrophicherbs]

Drie - like first sylable of дриада

[@zegmijnnaam]

@@richtrophicherbs Thanks, but i have already mastered French "throat r"

[@richtrophicherbs]

@@zegmijnnaam The Dutch "r" in "drie" is not like the French uvular "r". It's more like the Russian "r" in the first syllable of дриада.

[@zegmijnnaam]

@@richtrophicherbs Oh, thank you!

[@InfinityWald]

Ik heb eindelijk een normale video gevonden waarin al deze verschillende geluiden worden uitgelegd. Bedankt!

[@Kruiwagenchauffeur]

For some reason this pronunciation of the letter R sounds more frontal to me. I am a native Dutch speaker and I find myself putting the R's more in the back of my tongue/throat. It doesn't roll as much as the instructors. I am from the South of the Netherlands (Noord-Brabant).

[@starfishinamber]

I'm a native Spanish speaker and lived in Noord-Holland, and they definitely pronounced the R rolling it in their throat and I felt odd doing the front R. That also seems to be how the phoneme is represented in IPA.

[@ulissesdias9412]

The same here I'm in Netherlands and E here definitely is not with the tongue but with the throat I'm a Portuguese speaker and when I use the R with the tongue they say it is wrong because it is with the throat

[@nataliamarchant608]

-What I've heard is that is extremely hard to get a native accent (from any part of the world) unless you've born or started hearing it before one year of life... I have the rolling tip-tongue R, but still I know I don't sound native in Dutch. Could that cause any cultural problems? I know it's sensitive topic here xd

[@mohammedboudour9343]

Thank you bro 👍👍👍

[@mattf484]

Hey! Thank you for this amazing, informative video! I have a question though, it's about the "French R". I have noticed that many Dutch speakers actually use that kind of R a lot, so would I really sound French or German if I used that kind of R? Or is it just me who's hearing that and they're actually not using the French R? I've been listening to a lot of Dutch music and I've noticed that Lil Kleine sounds like he's using the French R (at least to me). And as far as I know he's from Amsterdam. Btw, I really like your channel! Your videos are helping me out a lot! Keep up the great work and stay healthy! :)

[@im.joeyb.]

No, it's not just you. I'm a native speaker from the Netherlands and a lot of people have a German/French 'R' and not the rolling 'R' this guy is speaking with. I know it's hard to tell when you don't speak Dutch, but this guy is definitely Belgian (as he's telling in the video). The first words he's pronouncing are with a Flemish accent. :-)

[@mattf484]

@@im.joeyb. Wow, thank you so much for your great response, you definitely helped me out a lot! :)

[@zar5989]

Matt F I suppose then I might have problems with the French R due to historical reasons in Belgium? I live in Brussels and I can tell Flemish and French-speaking people here have lots of problems with respect to each other’s.

[@alfonsohshk8998]

@@im.joeyb. The Dutch French R does not exist. The French R is more guttural, while the Dutch guttural R is more upfront. They are not the same. I speak French at 99% native level and when I speak Dutch, Dutchies will tell me I have French accent because of the R (Rotterdam and Harleem friends). The other R used in the Netherlands and in Friesland is alveolar which will not mean it is exactly the same as the Spanish or Italian R, similar but softer. The guttural R in Dutch never existed before the 18th Century, it spreaded all over and was adopted in some areas in Germany, Netherlands, Portugal (Lisbon double R) and DK. I will explain more in this post later on but the alveolar R is the real and original Dutch R, being the guttural one also correct nowadays, but no way it is the one and only which is correct.

[@im.joeyb.]

@@alfonsohshk8998 I depends on where you come from. Because mine is... :-)

[@YaShoom]

In case you're wondering, in Russian, the eR is not so rolling, it consists of one stroke. Of course, a lot of hitting can happen, but only if it's an emotional speech and you accidentally said it.

[@roav.2853]

I’m sorry but when you said hoor it cracked me up🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@TheNaropa]

When did I first conceived the idea of visiting Netherlands? Can anyone please translate to Dutch?, Just for me to compare the Google results

[@kauemoura]

That French R always makes me think of people from Ghent, even though it's not quite the same.

[@Vehvilainen_Lundqvist]

Please please do a video on all the swear worlds in nederlands

[@iuhihs]

this is definitely the hardest letter to pronounce. i have no problem trilling my tongue but it is near impossible to pronounce a word or a sentence without spiting in someone's face. Words like Nederlander Vrouw/mevrouw

[@DWLootens]

Nout, I’m an American with Flemish ancestors. This might seem strange, but I’d love to know the proper pronunciation of my last name-Lootens. Can you help? 😊

[@objective4]

My family is dutch and their rolling R is not like this at all, not like the Spanish or arabic R, it comes from the back of the throat. Like a motor sound. It's really difficult for me as a french

[@UkisoulE]

Portuguese also have this "r" 😊

[@chantalgoneau9964]

I can easily pronounce a rolling R but I can't pronounce it by using the front of my tongue/mouth like I hear from some people. How do you pronounce it that way?

[@roxanasilva5166]

Thank you so much for the videos

[@DutchGo]

Check out my video on that here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIvUn3SAjJdssLs One tip for you though: don't get too stuck on how other people say that sound, just find a way to say it consistently correct for yourself and just accept that there are many different accents, dialects and personal / regional variations of all sounds and vowels in Dutch.

[@roxanasilva5166]

@@DutchGo thank uuuu ! i love ur videos

[@truefriend5332]

You've got yourself a new subscriber.

[@DoodiePunk]

It's annoying that DuoLingo chose a minority variant, the uvular trill as their variant, even though it's the least common I hear on Dutch radio. Also it sounds weird to keep exchanging it with English R at the syllable coda which makes an alveolar R a better more natural variant.

[@Mobby74]

... Polish also has that frontal 'r'. (Except for the new Polish Prime Minister. ;) The second 'r' is actually not English, it's American and Irish (the Americans have it from the Irish I guess). The Americans should have no problem with it, but the British people might ..??

[@maiaallman4635]

We also use this rolling R in Afrikaans in South Africa.

[@eamusik121]

Indonesian as well

[@Seythia]

My family is from Antwerp and Gent and they all use the French r and I'm the outlier with the rolled r 😂

[@marcoslukana9071]

Goede video. In de provincie Noord-Holland heeft de Working Class zijn rollende R behouden. Luister maar naar Alkmaarse rapper Boef of Amsterdamse Lil' Kleine. Ik heb Taalkunde gestudeerd en in de literatuur las ik dat West-Vlaams het meest afwijkende accent is van het Neder-Frankische taalgebied (dus uitgesloten het noord-oosten van Nederland, waar ze Neder-Saksisch spreken van oorsprong). Een West-Vlaming zou geen H kunnen uitspreken of stemhebbende G. Jij hebt een heel mooie correcte uitspraak van het Nederlands.👌

[@eyallevie5566]

I am having a tough time with pronouncing the rolling R

[@leonardojerkovic3618]

I pronounce even in french a rolling R and it works fine. Everybody understands me perfectly

[@giorgosmalfas7486]

My question is when you pronounce the ending -EN fully

[@MrJonahWhaler]

To be fair rolling R is different in different languages. Spanish is not the same as Italian for example though both are rolling.

[@jzen1455]

Do Dutch pirate roll the ‘Arrrr’?

[@jzen1455]

I’m amazed at how many Dutch/Flemmish people speak English with an American sounding accent. I thought you were American or Canadian initially.

[@davidblackwood106]

He doesn't sound American at all 😄

[@moorhunhe]

I'm Flemish, living in the UK now, always had an American accent. Mostly because I just love it a lot more. UK people ask me all the time if I'm from America, or from what state, lol. I love it! Haha. I just never really liked the British way of speaking. And well, on TV I saw more American English to pick up.

[@benavraham4397]

I knew a Dutchman that I was that he was not American.

[@milkwalkerjones633]

@@davidblackwood106 Depends what part of America you're from.

[@thejel315]

Great. Dank je wel

[@jonswift6173]

Is this guy a time traveller from 1972?

[@LimeGreenTeknii]

It's funny you say not to use the French R, because I'm doing Pimsleur's Dutch, and I swear that at least the female speaker is using a French-sounding R.

[@dozingdaisy2083]

Ik heb omgekeerde moeilijkheden. Ik probeer momenteel Duits te leren en de keel r of de gorgel r lijkt onmogelijk op het moment.

[@yohanneslucky5538]

Bedankt አመሠግናለሁ

[@marcocippitellidiaz7991]

Het is misschien ongepast, maar ik wil zeggen dat je een heel mooie man bent.

[@yohanneslucky5538]

great

[@matthewdavis9437]

It's called the uvular trill, not the uvularian vibration. Lol. Anyway, helpful video.

[@rawadom]

I think Flemish Dutch is much more lucid when compared to Netherlands Dutch. Not only are the vowels in Flemish clearer, but they also articulate their g's and roll their r's akin to Spanish, which creates a more distinct contrast with other sounds. Flemish Dutch should be the standardized language variant for learning Dutch on Duolingo.

[@passionlangues]

Exactly

[@jeiceetravels]

Het is echt moeilijk! 🤣🤣🤣

[@darkeyboi]

I can't do the r in Dutch and i wana impress my girl please help meeee!!!!!!!

[@linderood3324]

Ik ben Nederlands en ik kan het niet eens

[@pequenogato12]

The first one sounds like Spanish

[@dirk6001]

Amperbroekkie, Aftrekplek = Afrikaans 🤣

[@safetynudge9026]

The whole world pronounces Van Gogh incorrectly. So how is it pronounced ?

[@xyholland]

Native Dutch people I know (including google translate) definitely do not pronounce "ruit" like you

[@TheMichaelK]

Vhy vould you not vant to speak vif a German akzent! 😁

[@tungrotsr8766]

bekous ist fahni

[@yohanneslucky5538]

ረሩሪራሬርሮሯ - r R

[@komaichan99]

something genetic is involved？

[@rekkinregen]

En je Engelse uitspraak is beter dan gemiddeld maar altijd nog SteenkolenEngels.