'ei' or 'ij'

an egg or an ice cream?

Another confusing beauty in the Dutch language: do I write 'ei' or 'ij'?

Both sound exactly the same, but it is extremely important to use the correct written form in order to avoid confusion. There are no 'rules' or 'mnemonics' for it, you will just have to study it, word for word. Undust does dictionaries and unfold those bookworm-glasses!

Although the pronunciation is exactly the same, the difference between 'ei' or 'ij' can be very important. For example, "leiden" is "to lead (as a responsible one)" and "lijden" is "to suffer (as a victim)":

• ik lijd (because I am hurt)
• ik leid (because I know the way)

"ei" and "ij" have the same pronunciation, but their spelling is something you will just have to practice, even native speakers have that problem. Use a dictionary. The "ei" is called "korte ei", the "ij" is called "lange ij"(*) to avoid confusion.

Some examples:

ei		ij
leiden	to lead	lijden	to suffer
eis	a demand	ijs	'ice' or 'ice cream'
wei	pasture, field	wij	we
weide	pasture, field	wijde	from the adjective 'wijd'
zei	past tense of 'zeggen'	zij	'she' or 'they'
mei	the month May	mij	me
peil	a level, like in 'water level'	pijl	an arrow
bereiden	to prepare (food)	berijden	to ride (a horse)
reist	third person singular of 'reizen'	rijst	'rice' or third person singular of 'rijzen'

More:

• Invuloefeningen: KlasCement.net, Groenendaal
• Wikibooks (in Dutch)
• An interesting view on 'homophones' (or the lack there of) in Dutch by Bas Blogt (in Dutch)

About the 'ij' in Dutch:

• Wikipedia
• Difference between 'ij' and 'y' in Dutch (Rudhar.com)
• "De lange IJ bestaat niet" (André Horlings)

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(*) Personally, I prefer the way that my former coordinator Martine uses to distinguish both sounds: "de eitjes ei" and "de ijsjes ij", hence the illustration that accompanies this article.