# How do you pronounce "The Hague"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175 "2003-03-13T21:10:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/1 "2003-03-13T21:10:51Z")
Most Americans say Hague (rhymes with plague), but my cosmopolitan friends say Hague (ryhmes with frog). Which is correct? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/2 "2003-03-13T21:23:21Z")
In English, it is pronounced as rhyming with “plague.” In Dutch, it’s pronounced “grovvenhogga.” (Source: M-W 1980) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/3 "2003-03-13T21:23:54Z")
My dictionary shows it as the first pronounciation. The second might be roughly consistent with the Dutch pronounciation (but then of course the article would no longer be “the”). ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/4 "2003-03-13T21:26:32Z")
The British politician Willaim Hague was pronounced Hague (rhymes with plague), so I assume the place will be pronounced the same way in English speaking countries. ---
**Author:** ![Azael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Azael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azael)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/5 "2003-03-13T22:06:40Z")
Your cosmopolitan friend is using the non-English pronunciation, the English speakers I knew when I went there for MUN all used the “rhymes with plague” version. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/6 "2003-03-13T22:25:16Z")
_go-dam fur-i-nurz_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/7 "2003-03-13T22:32:14Z")
The Ca– The Caaa– The Caaaa… ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/8 "2003-03-14T00:48:03Z")
doesn’t rhyme with frog. not “og” it sounds like the AR in ARgonaut. hAR-g. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/9 "2003-03-14T01:49:33Z")
Hmm. On NPR I think it rhymes with plague. In Dutch it’s spelled den Haag and pronounced something like “ha-aw-ch” with a carried-out ‘a’ and a soft ‘ch’ sound at the end (or a choking, gargling heimlich manouvre sound if you are from certain provinces). ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/10 "2003-03-14T01:56:06Z")
FWIW, every time I’ve heard it on [CBC Radio](http://www.cbc.ca/), it’s been Hague-as-in-plague. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/11 "2003-03-14T02:09:13Z")
's gravenhage is the full name…it is quite hard to pronounce unless you speak dutch… den haag is the short form of the city-- say “den hahg” (the g is gutteral, mid-throat much like a hard ‘ch’) The Hague is the anglisized version-- say “hayg” (rhymes with plague) Ken P-- your cosmopolitan friends aren’t correct-- even a native Dutch speaker will pronounce it to rhyme with ‘plague’ when using the anglisized version (the hague) ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/12 "2003-03-14T08:11:31Z")
**Doctor Goo Fee** explained the differences well (except he left out the capitalization). For advanced pronunciation here’s my take on it. Den Haag (where I’m sitting right right now, in a beautiful morning sunshine) is I think best pronounced like the first syllable of ‘lagoon’: Haag, like ‘lag-’. Only the ‘g’ should ideally be pronounced harder, but for Americans that is next to impossible without an operation or a horrible throat disease. If you really want to try it, the instructions of **capabara** are fairly close. The trick of the g is that compared to the g as in lagoon, it should be spoken more in front of the mouth, like a ‘k’. I guess for Ameriancs the Dutch g is like a cross of the g and the k. We are not allowed to explain how to pronounce 's Gravenhage, as that will be used as a shibboleth to detect foreigners come the next invasion. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/13 "2003-03-14T13:16:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TTT \* > \*\* > > We are not allowed to explain how to pronounce 's Gravenhage, as that will be used as a shibboleth to detect foreigners come the next invasion. 😃 \*\* 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/14 "2003-03-14T22:37:34Z")
I pronounce it ‘HAG-oo’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/15 "2003-03-15T01:13:29Z")
We’ll try to explain the Hague, but you can keep Groeningen and Scheveningen secrets. ---
**Author:** ![double-o-seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@double-o-seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/double-o-seven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-the-hague/161175/16 "2003-03-15T01:21:02Z")
capybara, you hit it on the head pretty much, plus I almost spit my teeth out on “Scheveningen”…It always make me think of a 2 stroke motorcycle revving up when I hear that pronounced. I lived in the Netherlands for five years, so I mastered a lot of that heimlich tongue and roof of the mouth stuff.