No. 5,095 in Dutch
ij
The "ij" in Dutch is a digraph representing a single vowel sound, pronounced like the English "ay" in "day."
In a sentence
Het ijs op de vijver is dik genoeg om op te schaatsen.
The ice on the pond is thick enough to skate on.
In this sentence, 'ijs' refers to ice, which is a frozen state of water commonly found in cold weather or conditions.
Ze kocht een ijsje bij de kraam op het plein.
She bought an ice cream at the stall on the square.
Here, 'ijs' is used in the context of 'ijsje', referring to ice cream, a dessert made from frozen dairy or fruit juice.
De IJssel is een rivier in Nederland.
The IJssel is a river in the Netherlands.
In Dutch geographic names, 'IJ' is part of the name 'IJssel', referring to a specific river, demonstrating its use in proper nouns.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “ij” in actual Dutch podcasts.
Find “ij” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Dutch podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into Nederlands, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Dutch books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).