ie / oe / eu / ui / ou

Vowel Spellings: IE, OE, EU, UI and OU

Level 1

Some Afrikaans vowels are written with two letters. Ie and oe are single, simple vowels: hier (here) has the ee of see, and boek (book) has the oo of food.

How It Works

Here are the most common vowel spellings. The English words are only a rough guide.

  • ie sounds like ee in see: hier (here), dier (animal), nie (not). It is usually short, and longer before r.
  • oe sounds like oo in food: boek (book), goed (good), skoen (shoe).
  • ee glides from ee to uh: weet (know), twee (two), been (leg).
  • oo glides from oo to uh: brood (bread), groot (big), oor (ear, over).
  • eu is like ee-uh said with rounded lips: deur (door), neus (nose), seun (son).
  • ui starts with a rounded uh and glides toward ee: huis (house), uit (out), buite (outside).
  • ou starts with a rounded uh and glides toward oo, a little like the o in English go: koud (cold), vrou (woman), oud (old).

The short i is special. It sounds like the a in about, not like the i in English sit: kind (child), dit (it), is (is), vis (fish). So dit (it) and die (the) have very different vowels.

Whether a long vowel is written with one letter or two depends on the syllable. See open and closed syllables. The letters y and ei spell yet another sound. See y and ei.

Examples (6)

  1. Die boek is hier.

    The book is here.

    Boek has the oe sound and hier has the ie sound.

  2. Die kind is in die huis.

    The child is in the house.

    Kind has a short i that sounds like uh. Huis has the rounded ui sound.

  3. Maak asseblief die deur toe.

    Please close the door.

    Word by Word: Make please the door closed.

    Deur has the rounded eu sound.

  4. Die brood is nog warm.

    The bread is still warm.

    Brood has the gliding oo sound.

  5. Dit is koud buite.

    It is cold outside.

    Koud has the ou sound, buite has the ui sound, and dit has the short uh sound.

  6. Ek weet nie waar my seun is nie.

    I don't know where my son is.

    Word by Word: I know not where my son is not.

    Weet has the gliding ee sound, and seun has the eu sound.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing a single i for the ee sound.

    Ek woon hir.
    Ek woon hier.

    The ee sound is written ie. A single i spells the short uh sound, as in dit and kind.

  • Spelling the oo sound of food with u.

    Ek lees 'n buk.
    Ek lees 'n boek.

    The oo sound of food is spelled oe. Buk is a different word that means bend down.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ie / oe / eu / ui / ouLevel 1Vowel Spellings: IE, OE, EU, UI and OU

Learn This First

These vowel spellings use two letters for one sound, building on the alphabet.