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A2 · Alphabet and pronunciation

Stress and accent marks: één, vóór

word stress and accents that stress

Topic 31 of 90 · about 9 minutes

Your goal

You can read accent marks as in één and vóór and put the stress in a word where it belongs.

We reserveren een tafel in het restaurant.We are reserving a table in the restaurant.

Het station is vlak bij het hotel.The station is right next to the hotel.

Ik vergeet altijd mijn sleutels.I always forget my keys.

Done at 8 of 10 · about 4 min

Explainer video

Watch first – then practise

The essentials

Remembereen is quiet and means “a”; één is loud and counts.

Stress is mostly on the first syllable of the stem — and a mark on the vowel shows emphasis, not another sound.

Signal words: één
een
vóór
dé
be-
ver-
-ij
-teit
-eren

The form

How it is written and said

Each row gives the rule first, then examples in Dutch that show it.

stress on the first syllable of the stem	vader, tafel, werken
prefix unstressed	betalen, vergeten, ontbijt
separable verb: stress at the front	opbellen, meenemen
stress at the end	bakkerij, universiteit, studeren, hotel
een (article, unstressed) – één (number)	een boek – één boek
mark for emphasis	vóór, dé, ík
diaeresis: new syllable, not stress	België, ruïne, zeeën

The rules one by one

The form this topic is about

The stress is mostly on the first syllable of the stem.
Mijn vader werkt veel.My father works a lot.
The prefixes be-, ge-, ver- and ont- are unstressed.
Ik betaal met de kaart.I pay by card.
With separable verbs the first part is stressed.
Ik bel je morgen op.I’ll phone you tomorrow.

More rules (3)

Endings such as -ij and -teit pull the stress to the end.
De bakkerij is naast de universiteit.The bakery is next to the university.
één with marks is the number, een without marks the article.
Ik wil één kaartje, niet twee.I want one ticket, not two.
A mark on another word only shows emphasis.
Dit is dé plek voor een picknick.This is the place for a picnic.

Example sentences

6 more example sentences

Er is maar één bakker in het dorp.There is only one baker in the village.

Daan studeert in Leiden.Daan is studying in Leiden.

Fleur woont in België.Fleur lives in Belgium.

Ze vertelt een verhaal.She is telling a story.

Neem je een cadeau mee?Are you bringing a present?

Niet jij, ík heb gebeld!Not you, I made the call!

The trap English speakers fall into

Watch out

English tells “a” and “one” apart by sound and by spelling (“a” against “one”). Dutch writes both een and relies on accents when the contrast matters: eenis unstressedéénlong and stressed Whoever means the number and writes no marks is read as an article — and whoever says een long is saying “one”.

Wrong:Ik wil een kaartje, niet twee.

Right:Ik wil één kaartje, niet twee.

Lesson

The full explanation

Read it all · about 1 min

As in English, the stress is mostly on the first syllable of the stem: vader, tafel, werken. The prefixes be-, ge-, ver-, her-, ont- and er- are unstressed, much like “be-” and “for-” in “begin” and “forget”: betalen, vergeten, ontbijt. With separable verbs the first part carries the stress: opbellen, meenemen — like the stressed particle in “ring UP”, “take ALONG”.

Some endings pull the stress to the end: -ij (bakkerij), -teit (universiteit, cf. “university”) and the verbs in -eren, which carry the stress on the ee (studeren, reserveren). Many words from French are stressed on the last syllable: hotel, station, cadeau, restaurant — here English speakers go wrong, because English stresses “STA-tion” and “RES-taurant” at the front.

Dutch writes accent marks only where something would otherwise be ambiguous or where a word is to be emphasised. The important case: een without marks is the article “a”, unstressed and short, like “an” without the n; één is the number “one”, stressed and long. So een boekis “a book”één boek“one book” — the Dutch version of the English a/one contrast Likewise vóór (before, stressed), dé (“the” emphasised), ík (“I”, stressed). The mark does not change the sound.

Do not confuse this with the diaeresis: two dots on ë or ï show that a new syllable begins and have nothing to do with stress: België, ruïne, zeeën.

A closer look

How to place the mark

If the stressed vowel consists of two letters, both get a mark: één, vóór, dáár. A single vowel gets one: dé, ík, wát. In daily writing the marks are used sparingly — with the number één, however, almost always, as soon as a contrast with “two” or “none” is meant.

Exceptions and special cases1

Exception
When a word comes from French
then the stress is mostly on the last syllable: cadeau, bureau, restaurant.
Dit cadeau is voor jou.This present is for you.
Why? French stresses the end of the word, and the loanwords have kept it.

Worth knowing2

Worth knowing
voorkomen and voorkómen
Some words differ only in stress: voorkomen with the stress on voor means “to occur”, with the stress on ko “to prevent”. Where it matters a mark shows the meaning: voorkómen.
Zulke fouten kun je voorkómen.You can prevent mistakes like that.
Worth knowing
The diaeresis is not a stress mark
The two dots on Italië or ruïne only say: a new syllable begins here, do not read ie as one sound. The stress in Italië is on ta, not on the ë.
Mijn oma komt uit Italië.My grandmother comes from Italy.

The verbs on this page, in every form: zijn · wonen · willen · werken · betalen · vergeten · leiden · studeren