The Dutch alphabet in 1560.

The Dutch alphabet has 26 or 27 letters (always considered 26 by Dutch native speakers, though), five or six of which are vowels. The alphabet used for the Dutch language is based on the Latin alphabet. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1008x838, 26 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dutch alphabet ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1008x838, 26 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dutch alphabet ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium. ... Variants of the Latin alphabet are used by the writing systems of many languages throughout the world. ...

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 (or IJ) - Z Look up A, a in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The letter B is the second letter of the modern Latin alphabet. ... C in Copyright mark The letter C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. ... For other uses, see D (disambiguation). ... The letter E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... The letter F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... The letter G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. ... Look up H, h in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The lowercase i redirects here. ... The letter J is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet; it was the last to be added to that alphabet. ... Look up K, k in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. ... The letter M is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... This article is about the letter N. For the Flash game, see N (game). ... This is for the letter O. For Oxygen, see here. ... Look up P, p in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Q is the seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet. ... The letter R is the eighteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... S is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... For other uses, see T (disambiguation). ... U is the twenty-first letter of the modern Latin alphabet. ... The letter V is the twenty-second letter in the Latin alphabet. ... Look up W in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The letter X is the twenty-fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... Y is the twenty-fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. ... The words “ijsvrij” and “yoghurt” in various forms of handwriting. ... Look up Z, z in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The Q, the X and the Y occur mostly in words borrowed from other languages, but may also appear in words and names which harken back to older spellings. "Q" is almost always followed by "U" (qu). A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ...

Placement of the IJ is problematic: it usually replaces the Y and does so in the standard alphabet listing (the alphabet ends X, IJ, Z). However, in some cases Y is inserted between X and IJ, making Z the 27th letter. Collation is even more confused, with IJ either being sorted as a combination I+J, among Y, after Y as an additional entry. In dictionaries, ij is treated as a digraph, sorting words beginning with ij between ih and ik. Telephone directories sort the ij as if it were a y because many surnames have nonstandard spellings: Bruijn may also be spelled Bruyn. As a further example, the famous Dutch footballer Ruud van Nistelrooy can be rendered as either "Ruud van Nistelrooy" (as he is in Great Britain) or "Ruud van Nistelrooij" (as he is in the Netherlands and many other states). In textual criticism and bibliography, collation is the reading of two (or more) texts side-by-side in order to note their differences. ...

The vowels are:

A - E - I - O - U - and some consider IJ a vowel as well.

Because IJ consists of a vowel and a non-vowel, it is not clear whether IJ is a vowel or not. In pronunciation, it is often actually closer to a diphthong. In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

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. Note however that in some southern (Flemish) dialects the IJ is used as a digraph and counted as two letters, and the capitalization rule is therefore not followed. In the southern Netherlands the capitalization rule is followed, though it is usually counted as a digraph. See IJ (letter) for more information on this letter, including status and collation. In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ... The Flemish dialects are the regional dialects of Dutch that are spoken in Flanders (Belgium). ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The words “ijsvrij” and “yoghurt” in various forms of handwriting. ... In textual criticism and bibliography, collation is the reading of two (or more) texts side-by-side in order to note their differences. ...

"E" is the mostly frequently used letter in the Dutch alphabet, usually presenting a schwa sound. The least frequently used letters are "Q", "X", and "Y". Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

[edit] External links

• R. Harmsen. The Dutch "letter" IJ.