Dutch word stress (klemtoon) is not random, but it is also not as rule-governed as some languages. The general tendency: stress falls on the first syllable of the root. Examples: HEren (gentlemen), WERken (to work), KINderen (children), VROUwen (women). For words with inseparable prefixes (be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, her-), the prefix is usually unstressed: beGRIJpen (to understand), verSTAAN (to understand/hear), ontMOEten (to meet).
Exceptions and complications: loanwords often keep their original stress: reSULtaat, proFESSor, siTUatie, comPUter. Words ending in -ie, -ij, -iteit, -atie often stress the final syllable: poliTIEK, moeiLIJKheid… wait, that is wrong. Actually moeilijkheid stresses MOEilijkheid. Specifics matter. The suffix -iteit stresses the syllable before: universiTEIT, kWALIteit. The suffix -atie (often borrowed from French): situAtie, organisAtie.
Why stress matters: mispaced stress is the single most common reason native speakers misunderstand Dutch learners. Dutch stressed syllables are longer and louder than unstressed ones — the difference is more extreme than in English. A word with wrong stress can be genuinely unrecognisable. When learning new vocabulary, always note the stress pattern — dictionaries mark it with an accent: KINderen, not KINdEren. Listening to native speakers and mimicking their stress patterns is the most reliable way to internalise this.