Sooner or later — booking a table, giving your name at a counter, reading out a postcode on the phone — you will have to spell a word aloud in Dutch, and that means knowing what the Dutch call each letter. The letters are the same twenty-six you already know, but several of their names differ sharply from English, and two of them (g and j) are close to swapped relative to your English instinct, which makes spelling aloud a genuine comprehension hazard rather than a triviality. This page teaches the letter names, the spelling-alphabet used for clarity, and the quirks of the ij. It is not about reading words off the page — that phonics work is spread across the vowel and consonant pages.
The letter names
Here is the full alphabet with each letter's Dutch name written as an approximate pronunciation. Long vowels are doubled in the hints to show length.
| Letter | Dutch name | Letter | Dutch name |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | aa | n | en |
| b | bee | o | oo |
| c | see | p | pee |
| d | dee | q | kuu |
| e | ee | r | er |
| f | ef | s | es |
| g | gee (a hard, throaty 'g') | t | tee |
| h | haa | u | uu |
| i | ie | v | vee |
| j | jee (like English 'yay') | w | wee |
| k | kaa | x | iks |
| l | el | y | i-grec / Griekse y |
| m | em | z | zet |
A few names to drill: i is pronounced ie (English "ee"), so when a Dutch person says "ee" for spelling they mean the letter e, and "ie" means i — the reverse of what an English ear expects. q is kuu, y is i-grec (from French) or Griekse y ("Greek y"), w is wee (not "double-u"), and z is zet.
Mijn naam is Smit: es – em – ie – tee.
'My name is Smit: S – M – I – T.' Note ie = the letter I, not E.
Het is met een c, niet met een k: see, niet kaa.
'It's with a c, not a k.' Spelling out the difference between see (c) and kaa (k).
Achternaam De Vries: dee – ee – vee – er – ie – ee – es.
'Surname De Vries: D – E – V – R – I – E – S.'
The g/j trap: the heart of the hazard
This is the point worth drilling hardest. In English, the letter j is called "jay" — and that English "jay" sounds almost exactly like the Dutch name for the letter g, which is gee (pronounced with the throaty Dutch g, but to an untrained ear close to "gay/hgay"). Meanwhile the Dutch j is called jee, which sounds like English "yay." So the two letters' names are effectively crossed relative to your instinct.
| Letter | Dutch name | English ear hears... | Don't confuse with |
|---|---|---|---|
| g | gee (throaty g + 'ee') | close to English 'jay' | your English J |
| j | jee ('yay') | 'yay' | — |
Jansen met een jee, niet met een gee.
'Jansen with a j, not a g.' The Dutch jee = your J; the Dutch gee sounds like your 'jay' but means G.
Is dat met een gee of een jee?
'Is that with a g or a j?' A question you'll hear constantly when spelling names.
The spelling alphabet: Anton, Bernard, Cornelis
When letter names alone aren't clear enough — a bad phone line, a tricky name — Dutch speakers switch to the spellingsalfabet, naming a word for each letter, just as English uses "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie." The Dutch list uses common first names and words.
| Letter | Word | Letter | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | Anton | n | Nico |
| b | Bernard | o | Otto |
| c | Cornelis | p | Pieter |
| d | Dirk | q | Quotiënt |
| e | Eduard | r | Richard |
| f | Ferdinand | s | Simon |
| g | Gerard | t | Theodoor |
| h | Hendrik | u | Utrecht |
| i | Izaäk | v | Victor |
| j | Johan / Jan | w | Willem |
| k | Karel | x | Xantippe |
| l | Lodewijk | y | Ypsilon |
| m | Marie | z | Zaandam |
Bakker: Bernard – Anton – Karel – Karel – Eduard – Richard.
'Bakker: B – A – K – K – E – R.' Using the spelling alphabet to be unambiguous.
Mijn naam is Quik: Quotiënt – Utrecht – Izaäk – Karel.
'My name is Quik: Q – U – I – K.' Note Izaäk and Quotiënt carry a trema.
Spelling out a postcode and house number
Dutch postcodes are four digits + two letters (e.g. 1011 AB). You read the digits and then spell the letters — often with the spelling alphabet because the letters matter for delivery.
Mijn postcode is 1011 AB: tien-elf, Anton – Bernard.
'My postcode is 1011 AB.' Read the digits, then clarify the letters.
Ik woon op nummer 7, postcode 3512 JK.
'I live at number 7, postcode 3512 JK.' jee – kaa, or Johan – Karel for clarity.
The lange ij and its odd place in the alphabet
The ij is the awkward member of the alphabet. It is a digraph that behaves in some ways like a single letter — it is called the lange ij ("long ij") to distinguish it from the korte ei ("short ei," the homophone spelled ei; see The Core Diphthongs). When you spell a word aloud you say ij as "lange ij," not "i – jee."
Its alphabetisation is genuinely inconsistent: some dictionaries and phone books sort ij with i, others treat it like y and file it at the end. And it capitalises as a unit — both letters go up: IJsland, IJmuiden, IJssel — never Ijsland. (See Capitalisation and the IJ.)
Wijntje: wee – lange ij – en – tee – jee – ee.
'Wijntje: W – IJ – N – T – J – E.' The ij is named 'lange ij', spoken as one unit.
IJsland schrijf je met een hoofdletter-IJ.
'You write IJsland with a capital IJ.' Both letters capitalise together.
Is dat een lange ij of een korte ei?
'Is that a long ij or a short ei?' The standard way to ask which homophone is meant.
Common Mistakes
❌ Spelling Jansen as 'gee – a – n...' using the English name 'jay' for J
Incorrect — English 'jay' is the Dutch name for G, so this spells Gansen.
✅ Jansen: jee – aa – en – es – ee – en
'Jansen' — the Dutch J is 'jee' (sounds like 'yay').
❌ Hearing 'ee' and writing the letter E... when 'ie' was meant for I
Incorrect — Dutch ie = the letter I; ee = the letter E. The vowels are reversed from English.
✅ ie = I, ee = E
Drill this pair; mixing them garbles every spelled word.
❌ Calling w 'double-u' as in English
Incorrect — the Dutch name is 'wee'.
✅ w = wee
The Dutch letter name for W.
❌ Capitalising the place name as 'Ijsland'
Incorrect — only the I goes up while the j stays low; that's wrong for ij.
✅ IJsland
'Iceland' — the ij digraph capitalises as a unit: IJ.
❌ Spelling a name with ij as 'i – jee'
Incorrect — say 'lange ij' as one unit, not two separate letters.
✅ ...lange ij...
The ij is named and spelled as a single unit.
Key Takeaways
- The letters are the same 26, but the names differ: a=aa, e=ee, i=ie, g=gee, j=jee, q=kuu, w=wee, y=i-grec/Griekse y, z=zet.
- The biggest hazard: Dutch gee sounds like English "jay" but means G; Dutch jee sounds like "yay" and means J. Drill your own name until this stops feeling backwards.
- ie = the letter I, ee = the letter E — the reverse of English instinct.
- Use the spelling alphabet (Anton, Bernard, Cornelis...) on a bad line or for tricky names.
- The lange ij is named and written as one unit, sorts inconsistently (with i or with y), and capitalises as IJ (IJsland).
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Dutch Pronunciation: OverviewA1 — A high-level map of the Dutch sound system for English speakers — the hard/soft g, front rounded vowels, diphthongs, schwa, final devoicing — and how phonemic spelling ties it all together.
- The Core Diphthongs: UI, IJ/EI, AU/OUA2 — Dutch has three diphthong sounds — ui (huis), ij/ei (mijn, klein) and au/ou (koud, vrouw) — where ij and ei are homophones, au and ou are homophones, and ui has no English equivalent at all.
- Capitalization and the Capital IJA2 — Dutch capitalises far less than English — days, months and the pronoun ik all stay lowercase — but adjectives from country and place names keep their capital (Franse kaas), and when a word beginning with ij is capitalised, both letters go up: IJsland, never Ijsland.
- The Dutch G and CHA1 — The voiceless and voiced velar/uvular fricatives written g and ch — the most iconic Dutch sound — including the sch cluster, the -isch exception, and the hard-g/soft-g regional split.