trouwens

by the way / besides

/ˈtrʌu.əns/adverb

Word forms

invariable: trouwens (no other inflected forms)

How it is spelled and how it sounds

The digraph 'ou' followed by 'w' represents the diphthong /ʌu/ (similar to 'ow' in English 'how'), while the unstressed 'e' in '-ens' reduces to a schwa /ə/.

vrouwenwomenbouwento buildvertrouwento trust

In connected speech

In fast, casual speech, the /n/ before the final /s/ is often dropped while nasalizing the preceding schwa, sounding like [ˈtrʌu.ə̃s].

In the lessons (1 sentence)

s2-les-09 · 33Daarom zegt ze: trouwens, wist je dat Martin een vriendin heeft?That's why she says: by the way, did you know that Martin has a girlfriend?Open in lesson ↗

In the frequency dictionary

Core #370

Marked known.