Stad-Utrechts, Uterechs, Utregs or Uteregs is the urban dialect spoken by the Utrecht “working class” in the narrow sense. It belongs to the eastern variant of Dutch, Utrechts-Alblasserwaards.
Wa zeggie! As a non-Utrechter, you sometimes flap your ears when walking along the Oude Gracht canal or sipping your drink on Domplein. A plat-Utrecht conversation can be hard to follow. Because while our little city today is a fine mishmash of people from all corners of the world and cultures, the primal Utrecht dialect has some gems of sayings and proverbs. And they are still in full use today
Main characteristics of the Utrecht dialect are:
-The “soft g,” which is clearly different from the southern “soft g.”
-Small words ending in -ie, -chie, -echie, -jie, -sjie, -tsjie, -pie and -kie: stadsjie (stadje), jochie), Jochie is also a term that adolescent and adult Utrechters use to address each other amicably.
-Elder people, roughly from middle age on, say ougie (oldie) to each other, just as amicably.
-When a Utrechtian tries to talk nicely, hypercorrect t’s are added: “of course, I’ll do that for a moment.”