LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #3
The Pronunciation of
Consonants in Afrikaans

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 3
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GRAMMAR

T he Focus of T his Lesson is Consonant s

In this lesson, we'll take a closer look at the consonants of Afrikaans.

Let's start with the ones that sound just like in English. Actually, this will be most
consonants!

We'll give an Afrikaans word for each consonant along with its approximate
pronunciation.

Consonant Af rikaans Pronunciat ion English

B boot BEWET "boat"

C cent SENT ( S sound) "cent"

C cliché CLICHÉ "cliché"

D diep DEEP "deep"

F fees FIERCE "party"

H hotel HEWETEL "hotel"

K kos KOS "food"

L ligt LIKHT "light"

M maan MAAN "moon"

N niemand NEE-MAND "nobody"

P paard PAARD "horse"

Q quiz QUIZ "quiz"

S steen STEERN "stone"

T tijd TUYD "time"

V vis VIS "fish"

W walvis WALVIS "whale"

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X XTC XTC "XTC"

Y yoga YEWEKHA "yoga"

Z Zoeloe ZULU "Zulu"

The letters c, q, x and z are only used in borrowed words, and are hardly ever
seen in Afrikaans.

Now let's have a look at the consonants that have a different sound in Afrikaans.

Consonant Af rikaans Pronunciat ion English

Sounds like CH, as in the Scottish word LOCH, the German

word ICH or like the Spanish J as in "Julio"
G Note: it never sounds like the G, as in the English word
"GOOD"

G goed khood "good"

J Sounds like Y, as in the English words YES and MAY

J ja jah "yes"

R Pronounced not as far back in the throat as in English.

Sounds more like a Spanish R

R radio raadio "radio"

Now let's have a look at two consonants put together to create one sound. We'll
look at them one by one and give you some examples to play around with.

One Sound

NG

Sounds just like it does in English, as in the word "cling" or "thing." NOT like in
"stranger" or "danger."

For example: bang, vang, eng.

CH:

The CH in Christus ("Christ"), Chris, Christien. The CH sound in names is often

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pronounced as the Afrikaans K.

SJ is pronounced as in "ship."

For example: Sjaal, Sjinees, sjampanje.

Separat e Sounds

NK

Sounds the same as English, as in the word "link."

For example: bink, pink, zink.

KN

Unlike in English, K before N is pronounced. You will hear both sounds separately.

For example: Knaap, Knoop, Knars.

PS

Unlike in English, P before S is pronounced; you will hear it as two separate sounds.

For example: psalm, pseudoniem, psigoloog.

Two of a Kind

KK, TT, LL, NN are pronounced the same as one single consonant. A double
consonant usually means that a preceding single vowel is short.

And there you have them!

That's all for this lesson! Good luck!

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