Learning Dutch — frequently asked questions
40 questions people really ask when learning Dutch, with answers that stand on their own. Where there is more to say, the link is underneath — not instead of the answer.
Getting started
Where to begin, how close Dutch really is to English, which Dutch you learn and what the levels mean.
How do I start learning Dutch?
With the sounds, and straight afterwards with whole sentences. The sounds first, because the spelling otherwise plays tricks on you: once you know that oe is “oo” and ui a sound English does not have, you can read boek and huis correctly from day one. Then short sentences as wholes — Ik heet Anna. Ik woon in Londen. — and a look at what is inside them: Londen is London, and the sentence is built almost like English. After that come zijn and hebben, de and het, and the present. The beginners’ route on this site follows exactly that order.
Is Dutch easy for English speakers?
Easier than many languages, and that is exactly the danger. Dutch and English are close relatives: water, brood, appel, koud and hundreds of others you half know already. What is new is smaller but real: two words for “the”, the verb in second place and at the end of a subordinate clause, the sounds ui and g, and the words that only look familiar. The grammar pages go through it level by level.
How long does it take until I can have a conversation in Dutch?
Nobody can honestly give a number, because it depends on how often you practise, whether you speak with anyone and what you mean by a conversation. What can be said is what each level lets you do: at A1 you introduce yourself and order something, at A2 you tell about your weekend, at B1 you give reasons and opinions. If you can do those things, you are having conversations — short ones at first.
What do A1, A2 and B1 mean on this site?
They are this project’s own way of arranging the material, in three steps. A1 is the first: introducing yourself, the present, zijn and hebben, the article and the word order. A2 adds the past, the future and everyday situations. B1 adds reasons, opinions and longer sentences with the verb at the end. The labels say what belongs together, not a promise about anybody’s results.
Do I learn the Dutch of the Netherlands or of Flanders?
The standard language as it is spoken in the Netherlands, spelled according to the official word list that both countries share. In Flanders the written language is the same; the sound and some words differ — the g is softer, people say gij more often and eat frieten instead of patat. Where it matters, a note at the word says so. Both are correct Dutch, as British and American English are both correct English.
In what order should I learn the grammar?
The beginners’ route goes: the sounds, then zijn and hebben, de and het, the present, the prepositions of place and the yes-no question. After that the learning path takes you on level by level — the past, the future and the modal verbs, and last the subordinate clauses with the verb at the end. Each step uses only what the steps before it have covered, so you rarely meet a rule that needs one you do not yet have.
Will Dutch help me with Afrikaans, German or Frisian?
Yes, to a degree. Afrikaans grew out of the Dutch of the settlers at the Cape, so a reader of Dutch understands a good deal of it. Frisian, spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland (Fryslân), is often called the closest living relative of English, and German shares much of the vocabulary and the verb position. Do not expect to speak any of them without learning it: the resemblance helps you read, and the differences are where the traps are.
Spelling and pronunciation
The g, the sounds ui, ij and eu, doubled and single vowels, accents and typing.
How is the Dutch g pronounced?
Not like the “g” of “go”. In the Netherlands it is a rasp at the back of the throat, like the “ch” of Scottish “loch”: goed, gaan. In Flanders and in the south it is softer. Do not soften it to an English “h”, or goed and hoed become one word. The same sound is in ch: acht, lachen.
How do I say ui, ij and eu?
English has none of the three. For ui start with rounded lips and glide to a rounded “ee”: huis, uit. ij is one letter and sounds something like the “ay” of “say” with a wider start: wijn, blij. eu is “ay” with the lips rounded, a bit like French “peur”: deur, keuken. A mirror helps: for ui and eu the lips stay round, for ij they are spread.
Why is oe an “oo” sound, and what about u?
Because Dutch spells the sounds its own way. oe is the “oo” of “boot”: boek, goed. The long u — single in an open syllable, uu in a closed one — is the sound of French “tu” or German “ü”, with the tongue forward and the lips rounded: museum, duur. The short u of bus is a rounded murmur; neither is the “u” of “cut”. Once you have these two, you can read most Dutch words aloud.
Why is it maan but manen?
Because Dutch shows how long a vowel is by how it is spelt. In a closed syllable a long vowel is written double (maan), in an open one single (manen, where the syllable break comes after the a). A short vowel stays single and the consonant after it doubles to keep it short: man, mannen. English does the doubling too, in “hopping” against “hoping”.
Why is it huis but huizen, and brief but brieven?
Dutch spells the end of a word with s and f and, when an ending follows, with z and v: huis – huizen, brief – brieven. The reason is that Dutch pronounces final voiced consonants without voice, so the spelling returns to the voiced letter when it can. English has a small echo of this in “house” and “to house”, “life” and “lives”.
Is the -en at the end of Dutch words pronounced?
In the Netherlands the n is usually left out in speech and the ending sounds like a weak “uh”: lopen is said roughly “lopuh”. In writing it always stays. In some regions the n is sometimes heard more clearly. So when you listen, do not wait for the n; when you write, never leave it out.
What are the accents on één and vóór for?
They show stress or keep two words apart. één with accents is “one” as a number; een without is “a”. vóór can stress that it is “before, by” in a deadline. The two dots of the diaeresis do a different job: they separate two vowels, België, tweeëntwintig. Where the sense is clear, the stress accents are often left off in everyday writing.
How do I type Dutch letters on an English keyboard?
Dutch uses ordinary Latin letters and needs very few special ones: é, ë and ï in a handful of words such as één, tweeëntwintig and café. On a phone, hold down the letter and pick the accented form; on a computer set the keyboard to “US International” or copy the word. The ij is just two letters, i and j. Where you cannot type an accent, write the letter without it: it will be understood.
Grammar
De and het, the adjective e, the little er, the verbs at the end of the clause — and where English speakers most often go wrong.
Why does Dutch have two words for “the”?
Because nouns fall into two groups, and the group is shown by the article: de for most nouns, het for a smaller group. English lost this long ago, so there is nothing in English to carry over. The good news: there are only two, there are no cases, and the plural is always de: het huis, de huizen. Learn each noun together with its article, and do not try to guess from the English word.
How do I know whether a noun is de or het?
There is no rule that works everywhere, but a few help straight away. Every diminutive is het: het huisje. Words for people are mostly de, and so are words ending in -heid, -ing and -tie. A word that starts with ge- is often het. For the rest, learn the article with the word; the word lists show it every time.
When does an adjective get an -e?
Almost always, with one exception that you can learn in a minute. The adjective gets an e (de grote man, het grote huis, een grote man), except before a het word with een or with no article: een groot huis, groot huis. English never changes the adjective, which is why the e is easy to forget.
Does Dutch have cases?
Only in the pronouns, as English does. English has “I” and “me”, “he” and “him”; Dutch has ik and mij or me, hij and hem. Nouns have no cases at all, so de man stays de man as subject and object. A small group of pronouns to learn, and no tables of endings.
What is the little word er?
A word with several jobs and no English twin. It can mean “there” (Er is koffie., “There is coffee.”), stand in for a quantity (Ik heb er twee., “I have two of them”), replace “it” after a preposition (Ik heb er een bak voor.), or simply fill the subject place (Er wordt aangebeld.). Learn the four uses one by one and it becomes a friend.
Why does Dutch not use “do” in questions and negatives?
Because the verb itself moves. A question puts the verb first: Werk je hier?, where English needs “Do you work here?”. A negative puts niet after it: Ik werk niet. The only “do” that survives is the full verb doen, as in Wat doe je?, “What are you doing?”. If you catch yourself looking for a helper, just turn the verb round.
How do I say “you don’t have to”?
With hoeven: Je hoeft niet te komen. It is the verb for “not necessary”, and it nearly always stands with a negative. Be careful with moeten: Je moet niet komen. means “you must not come”, a prohibition, as in English. So “don’t have to” is hoeven niet, and “must not” is moeten niet.
How do I talk about the future?
Most often with gaan and an infinitive, as English does with “going to”: Ik ga morgen werken. Or with the plain present and a time word: Morgen werk ik. The verb zullen is for promises, offers and guesses: Ik zal je helpen. There is no ending for the future, so you never have to learn a table.
When do I use hebben and when zijn in the perfect?
Most verbs take hebben: Ik heb gewerkt. Verbs of movement towards a goal and of change take zijn: Ik ben naar huis gegaan., Het is koud geworden. English always says “have”, so this is new for you. If you are not sure, think whether the verb says that somebody gets somewhere or becomes something; if so, take zijn.
Why do the verbs pile up at the end of the clause?
Because in a subordinate clause the whole group of verbs goes to the end: omdat ik het boek heb gelezen, “because I have read the book”. English keeps the verbs together after the subject; Dutch pushes them behind everything else. With two or three verbs the order is often the reverse of English at first sight, so read the examples aloud until the order feels natural.
What does aan het mean?
It makes the action last: Ik ben aan het koken. is “I am cooking”, happening now. Dutch has no “-ing” form, so the plain present Ik kook. covers both “I cook” and “I am cooking”; aan het is for when you want to say “right now, in the middle of it”.
How do I tell the time in Dutch?
Mostly as in English, with one big trap. kwart over drie is a quarter past three, kwart voor vier a quarter to four. But half vier is half past three, “half way to four”. And between the quarters Dutch counts from the half: tien voor half vier is 3.20. At is om: om half vier.
You, politeness and Flanders
Whom to call je, when to say u, and what sounds different in Flanders.
When do I say je and when u?
Use je or jij with friends, family, colleagues and people of your own age; u is for formal situations, with older strangers and in letters to an office. In practice Dutch speakers use u less than English speakers expect, and many offices and shops use je. If someone says Zeg maar je, “just say je”, you can drop the u. If in doubt, start with u and follow the other person.
What is the difference between jij and je?
jij is the stressed form and je the unstressed one; both mean “you” and both can be subject. You say JIJ when you want to point at the person: Wil jij koffie? En jij? Normally it is Wil je koffie? The same goes for wij and we, zij and ze. After the verb jij and je lose the -t: Werk je?
What sounds different in Flanders?
The g is softer, the vowels are purer, and people often say gij and u where the Netherlands says jij and je. Some words differ: frieten against patat, goesting against zin. The written language is the same standard. You will understand and be understood anywhere; this site teaches the standard of the Netherlands and notes the Flemish form where it helps.
How do I write a polite email in Dutch?
Open with Geachte heer or Geachte mevrouw, or with Beste and a name; use u and write Kunt u …? or Zou u … kunnen? for requests. Close with Met vriendelijke groet and your name. Between colleagues Hoi or Beste and je is usual, and the end can be Groetjes. Dutch emails are direct but not abrupt, and thanks in advance — Alvast bedankt — is common.
Words
Which words come first, which you already know and which only look as if you do.
Which Dutch words should I learn first?
Those you will meet in the first conversation: greetings, numbers, family, food and drink, the town and the verbs you need every day. The word lists are ordered that way, and every noun comes with de or het. Learn a few words a day with a sentence each; it keeps better than long lists.
Are there Dutch words I already know?
A great many. water, appel, hand, brood (bread), koud (cold), zout (salt), gisteren (yesterday) and dag (day) all have a clear English cousin. Some correspondences are regular: Dutch k often matches English “ch” (kerk, church; kaas, cheese), and Dutch g often matches “y” (gisteren). Look for the pattern and you can guess many more.
Which Dutch words look English and mean something different?
More than you would like. slim is clever, eventueel is “possibly”, actueel is “current”, brutaal is “cheeky”, bang is “afraid”, brief is “letter”, wet is “law”. Learn them as pairs: the English word you want and the Dutch word you need. The false-friends page lists the common ones, with what to say instead.
Why is so much in Dutch small?
Because the diminutive is an everyday tool, not baby talk. Add -je and a noun becomes small, dear or casual: een kopje koffie, een momentje, een broodje. Some have become words of their own, and every one of them is a het word. English has a faint echo in “doggie”, but nothing so regular or so frequent.
What does gezellig mean?
There is no single English word. It describes an evening, a café, a room or a person: cosy, sociable, pleasant, with the feeling of being together. Whoever says Het was gezellig is paying a compliment. The noun is de gezelligheid. You will hear the word within the first day.
How do I learn separable verbs?
With a sentence in which the small word comes last: opbellen is “ring up”, and Ik bel je morgen op. is “I will ring you up tomorrow”. Dutch separable verbs are the relatives of English phrasal verbs — “ring up”, “switch off”, “take along” — except that the little word wanders to the end of the clause and comes back to the verb in the infinitive and the participle: opgebeld.
This site
Where the material comes from, who it is for and what it is not.
Where do the explanations and exercises come from?
They were written for this project in the language they are read in: no sentence, list or exercise is taken from a textbook, a dictionary or another site. The Dutch is standard Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands. Where you notice a mistake, tell us, so that it can be put right.
Who is this site for?
For people who start with no Dutch and read English, from the first sounds to everyday conversation and simple texts. It does not assume you have learnt another language, and it is written so that you do not have to know any grammar terms in advance. The beginners’ route is the place to start.
Does the site prepare me for an exam?
No, and it does not claim to. The levels are this project’s own arrangement of what belongs together; they do not stand for any examination or certificate. What the site does is teach you to read, understand and use everyday Dutch, and how you use that is up to you.