Listen to the sound file and get a feel for this pattern of short versus long vowels. It is crucial that you understand this lesson. It dictates to the whole pronunciation system, and determines the spelling as well. An audio stream will be added soon.
Note: word examples are a mix of real and fake words.
| Short | Vowel | Long |
|---|---|---|
|
tak-ke kas-te mat-te |
A |
ta-ke ka-se ma-te |
|
bed klets let-ter |
E |
be-de kle-re re-pe |
|
min-ste kits lis-sie |
I |
mi-nus kri-sis li-sie |
|
bot-te slot-te pot-te |
O |
bo-te slo-te po-te |
|
slur-pie rus-tig buk |
U |
u-nie mu-re bu-re |
Comments:
Words above are broken into syllables.
OPEN -- If a syllable ends in a vowel, it is OPEN, and the vowel pronunciation is LONG.
CLOSED -- And inversely, if the syllable ends in a consonant, the syllable is CLOSED, and the vowel pronunciation of the previous syllable is SHORT.
That is why the A in take would be long, and the A in takke would be short. If you have a closed syllable and you want a long pronunciation, you would DOUBLE the vowel.
Example: taak, sleep, sloop, sliep. There is no double 'i'; and 'ie' is used to represent the long 'i'.
Long-short pair Examples:
A |
E |
I |
O |
U |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
pakke pakke
sakke
passe
kasse
masse |
lekke leke
bekke
messe
bette
lesse |
pikke pike
skimme
mikke
sikke
tippe |
bokke boke
sotte
kotte
hotte
losse |
putte
tukke
musse
lusse
busse |
Mixed Examples:
| Vowel |
Syllable Breaks |
The Word | With Prefixies | With Prefixes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
A |
ha-ke hak-ke pal paal pal-le pa-le |
taak take tak takke hasse hase |
verhaal onthak gedale bedalle vernap hernape |
behaat verhat herhake verhakke vernap hernape |
E |
leek le-ke lek-ke seep se-pe sep-pe |
putte ekke ete ette epe eppe |
verlekker verees veresse besete ontese herlese |
verenik verennik gebede herbedde belesse ontleke |
I |
piet pi-te pit-te piets ki-te kit-te |
dienaar kittaar kitaar sippres sipres pieke |
bedien hersite gekiet ontpitte verpit bepite |
versien bekiem herskim ontskime verpit bepite |
O |
koop ko-pe kop-pe pool po-le pol-le |
lotte sloot potte bote kolle kome |
beslot hersloot ontslotte verklope hernote verkotte |
vermose ontmokke herlope verlokke hernote verkotte |
U |
kuul ku-le kul-le muus mu-se mus-se |
suur tuut sure sutte nutte pukke |
versuur bemure hernutte ontkusse herlusse vermuke |
bepute geputte verhutte herhute verbuk gebuuk |