Any syllable in Dutch can be onsetless regardless of the quality of the full vowel in the nucleus position and the syllable's position within a word. Examples of word-initial and word-internal onsetless syllables are given in (1) to (5).

Schwa is the only vowel that is prohibited word-initially, at least in lexical morphemes (2a). Only in function words, can schwa appear in word-initial position (2b):

As shown in example (1), Dutch words can start with any full vowel or diphthong – yet, as noted in Gussenhoven (1992:45), word-initial vowels are obligatorily preceded by a glottal stop if the initial syllable is stressed, while this glottal stop is optional in words in which the first syllable is unstressed. Some examples are provided in (3):

Word-medially, vowel-initial syllables are less frequent due to the Maximal Onset constraint (universal *C.VC constraint), which forces consonants before a vowel within the same domain of syllabification to be assigned to the onset of that particular syllable. This process is illustrated by the plural form handenhand-en[ˈhɑndən] (cf. the singular form hand/hɑnd/[hɑnt] in which syllable-final obstruent devoicing applies). In case a word-medial vowel-initial syllable occurs, it will be realized with a glottal stop if the vowel-initial syllable is stressed (4a) and without it if the vowel-initial syllable is unstressed (second syllable in 4b).

Sequences of two adjacent heterosyllabic vowels such as the ones in (5) are exceptions. These sequences are usually subject to the process of hiatus resolution.