Dividing Dutch words into syllables

A syllable is one beat of a word — each vowel sound is the core of one syllable. Maken (to make) splits into two beats, ma-ken. Knowing where a Dutch word breaks tells you how to spell it and where you may cut it at the end of a line.

Split between the vowels: the consonant(s) sitting between two vowels are shared so that the next syllable starts with as many consonants as could legally begin a Dutch word — in practice, usually just one. Work through these steps.

1. Find the vowels. Each vowel, or vowel combination read as one sound (oe, aa, ei, ij), is the centre of one syllable. Maken has a and e, so two syllables.
2. One consonant between two vowels goes to the next syllable: ma-ken, be-ter (better), wa-ter (water).
3. With a run of two or more consonants, put the break wherever the second syllable can still open with a group Dutch permits at the start of a word. Since most Dutch words begin with a single consonant, that usually means the last consonant jumps ahead and the earlier one closes off the first syllable: kof-fer (suitcase), win-ter (winter). When the entire cluster is a legal word-opening, it travels across intact: a-dres (address).
4. ch (and sch, sj) count as one sound and are never split: ka-chel (stove), la-chen (to laugh), mis-schien (maybe).
5. ng and nk are split after the n: the n is pronounced far back in the mouth (as /ŋ/), so ng and nk hang together in speech, yet the written break still falls after the n: hon-ger (hunger), ko-nin-gen (kings), den-ken (to think).
6. Compound words and the prefixes be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, her-, er- split at the seam, leaving the parts whole: voet-bal (football), be-ta-len (to pay), ver-ge-ten (to forget).

• Spelling. A syllable ending in a vowel (an open syllable) keeps a long vowel written single: ma-ken has one a. A syllable ending in a consonant (a closed syllable) doubles the consonant to keep a short vowel short: man-nen (men). This is the whole engine behind open and closed syllables and double vs single vowels.
• Breaking a word at the end of a line. You may only cut between syllables: ta-fel, never taf-el. Do not strand a single-letter syllable, though — over is o-ver, but you would not leave o- alone at the end of a line.

Two habits from English cause most errors. First, learners keep ng together and write ho-nger; in Dutch the break falls after the n, so it is hon-ger (hunger). Second, they split by how the word looks rather than by its vowels — maken is ma-ken, not mak-en, because the single k belongs to the next syllable. When in doubt, say the word slowly and listen for where each vowel beat begins.