Pronunciation, episode three: the ui sound. The most distinctively Dutch vowel - written 'u' followed by 'i'. No close equivalent in English or Spanish, which is why foreigners struggle with it.
Ui. Ui. Ui. — How to make it.
Start your mouth in the position for the English 'how' or 'now'. Now round your lips like you're saying 'oo'. Then glide that to a tight, fronted 'ee' - tongue forward, mouth tight. It's a diphthong - two sounds in one - but with vowel positions English doesn't use. The closest English approximation is the vowel in 'house' said with very round, pursed lips.
Three examples. Listen and repeat each one.
Ui. — Onion.
The word itself, just one syllable.
Huis. — House.
Notice how different this is from the English 'house' - tighter, more rounded.
Buiten. — Outside.
Now all three in a row:
Ui. Huis. Buiten.
And in a sentence:
Ik snijd een ui voor het avondeten buiten op het terras. — I am cutting an onion for dinner outside on the terrace.
Listen for the three ui sounds, all the same vowel.
Today's Brueghel proverb.
Een rad voor de ogen draaien.
Een rad voor de ogen draaien. — Literally: to turn a wheel in front of someone's eyes.
Meaning: to deceive someone, to pull the wool over their eyes. Example:
De verkoper probeerde me een rad voor de ogen te draaien. — The salesman tried to pull the wool over my eyes.
Fijne dag nog!
Download anki.tsv and import into Anki (File → Import). Tab-separated Front/Back/Tags.