The schwa is the unstressed vowel that occurs systematically in many
German and
Dutch words. In normal spelling, it is usually written as
e; in the
phonetic alphabet, an e upside down. It sounds like a short unstressed
uh. Historically it usually developed from a 'real' vowel, often an
a.
Examples of systematic schwa in Dutch:
- many words, especially nouns, end in schwa
- zijde (silk), mode (fashion), hybride (hybrid)
- most plurals of nouns are formed with -en
- huis (house), huizen (houses) - the English -es has a schwa too, but it sounds like ih rather than uh. The -e in house is silent; a schwa isn't.
- the plural forms of the verb have -en
- ik lach (I laugh), we lachen (we laugh)
- adjectives have a form with -e:
- een klein huis (a small house), het kleine huis (the small house)
- the perfect participle is formed with ge-
- ik heb gelachen (I have laughed) - in English the e in -ed may have been a schwa, but it is totally silent now