Vowel and Diphthong Exceptions to the Phonetic Spelling of Dutch

een
The indefinite article een 'a' is written with double E which usually indicates the 'long E' sound, but it's pronounced with the 'voiceless, unstressed E . More phonetically correct it can be written as " 'n " but that is rarely done.
There is something similar with the definite article het 2 3 which has a short E but it's usually said as " 't " with 'voiceless, unstressed E - I often write it as as " 't " on my website to show how the language is spoken and how I say it on my website.
een één ('n één) a one
een kwart a quarter (of something) - ¼
wat een 2 3 4 what a ..., such a ...!

-IG ending
The I in the -IG ending is pronounced as 'voiceless, unstressed E
grimmig 2 grisly, grim
duchtig 2 thorough
zalig blessed; delicious, heavenly
much more

-ISCH ending
The -ISCH ending is pronounced as 'long I (IE) ' -S - and CH is not pronounced. In the 1920s there were plans for a spelling change to -IES, but that never became official.
chemisch chemical ‑>>
basisch alkaline
much more

-LIJK ending
The IJ in the -lijk 2 ending is pronounced as 'voiceless, unstressed E
olijk droll, funny
eerlijk honest, fair ‑>>
But do note that there are many one-syllable words ending in -IJK and in all those the IJ is pronounced as EI/IJ, and also note the word gelijk 2 ('equal') ‑>> - it has a voiceless E 'ge-' prefix
much more

I have found one noun ending in -IG with 'short I' sound, but I cannot think of other Dutch adjectives and adverbs ending in voiceless, unstressed E-G than the -IG enders; there are words ending in -LUK, but no words of more than one syllable ending in -LEK with voiceless, unstressed E.
On the other hand, here is gratis ('free, no payment needed') and vies ('dirty') ‑>> - precies ('precisely, exactly') and lelies 2 ('lillies') - so an ‑IES ending you hear can be either ‑isch or ‑ies

Y and Consonant I
Y can be a vowel, sounding like short I or long I (IE) following the spelling rules, but Dutch Y can also be consonant-Y (Dutch J) between vowels or in front of a vowel
loyaal 2 loyal
yoghurt 2 yogurt
Dutch I after a vowel or a diphthong can also sound like Dutch J
(het) lawaai 2 noise ‑>>
kraaien 2 crows
(de) moeite 2 effort, difficulty, trouble ‑>>

There are many words of foreign origin in Dutch that do not follow the phonetic rules of Dutch - but they are not incuded in these tests because there are no clear identifiers to tell them apart.

This flashcards exercise is not meant for learning vocabulary. Some of the words are good examples of pronunciation but not in common use. Follow the links ‑>> if you want to know more about a word (totally optional.)
These flashcards exercises have only two-syllable words or phrases of two one-syllable words

Get to Know Some of the Exceptions

Vowels and Diphthongs, Exceptions and Special Cases Listening Test

Dutch Vowel and Diphthong Listening Tests:
Intro 1 - Intro 2 - Test 1 - Test 2 - Test 3 - Test 4

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