Language Information

The Dutch alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and has 27 letters.

The letters are:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - IJ - Z

The Q only appears in words borrowed from other languages. The X and Y also mostly occur in loanwords, but also in some words and names which harken back to older spellings. The IJ usually replaces the Y. IJ is most often written with an I and J letter as a ligature 'IJ'. As a ligature, it is nearly always counted as a single letter, and therefore is always capitalized as one whole when needed: ijs (ice) is written IJs at the start of a sentence, and not Ijs. Dutch is also known for its ability to glue words together to form very long words.

The Dutch cases are now mainly used for the pronouns. Nouns and adjectives are not case inflected (except for the genitive of nouns: -(')s or -'). In the spoken language cases and case inflections had already gradually disappeared.

Dutch pronunciation

· b = [ p ] at the end of a word, [ b ] elsewhere

· d = [ t ] at the end of a word, [ d ] elsewhere

· e = [ ə ] in unaccented syllables

· g = [ x ] at the start of a word, [ ʁ ] elsewhere

· r is silent before g. Elsewhere = [ r ]

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