Dutch, like German and Russian, has a phonological rule called final devoicing (eindklanksverharding). Voiced consonants (b, d, v, z, g) at the end of a word or syllable become their voiceless equivalents (p, t, f, s, ch). This affects how you hear and produce Dutch: hond (dog) is pronounced hont; bad (bath) is pronounced bat; brief (letter) — f is already voiceless; huis (house) — s is already voiceless; weg (road) is pronounced wech.
Why this matters for spelling: the underlying voiced consonant is preserved in spelling but not in pronunciation. When you add a suffix that makes the consonant non-final, the voiced sound returns: hond → honden (the d is now medial, so voiced again). Bad → badkamer (medial d, voiced). This is why spelling and pronunciation can diverge: you write hond but say hont, you write honden and say honden (with voiced d). This distinction is crucial for spelling correctly from pronunciation.
Common errors: English speakers often voice final consonants as in English — saying hond with a final d sound. Native Dutch speakers will understand, but it sounds foreign. The fix: at the end of any word, ask yourself if the written consonant is b, d, v, z, or g — if yes, devoice it to p, t, f, s, or ch respectively. Practice pairs: bad/bat, hond/hont, weg/wech, leef/leaf, huis/hoise (no — huis already ends voiceless). Train this habit early; it is much harder to unlearn later.