A1StoryTravel1 min

De eerste dag in Amsterdam

Lena’s first day in Amsterdam: a small room, a museum and fish in the evening.

A short story in the present tense. Watch the verb in second place, even when the sentence starts with a time: In de ochtend eet Lena …, word for word “In the morning eats Lena …” — first the time, then the verb, then the person.

Lena komt uit Duitsland. Vandaag is haar eerste dag in Amsterdam.

Haar kamer is klein, maar schoon. De kamer is op de eerste verdieping. Het raam is groot.

In de ochtend eet Lena brood met kaas. Ze drinkt koffie.

Dan gaat Lena naar het centrum. Het is mooi weer en het is warm. Ze gaat naar een museum. Daarna zit ze in een café aan het water.

In de avond eet ze vis. De man vraagt: “Lekker?” Lena zegt: “Heel lekker, dank u wel!”

More sentences on this in “Language in use”: Dutch for your trip

Words: 84
Sentences: 15
Words per sentence: 5.6
in the vocabulary: 100 %
measured level: A1
Reading time: 1 min

Grammar in this text

These forms appear in the text in real use. Switch on “Show grammar” above the text to highlight them.

In de ochtend eet Lena
When a time word comes first, the verb follows straight away and the person comes after it: In de ochtend eet Lena. English keeps the person first. The verb in second place →
Haar kamer is klein
“Is” is is with a third person: haar kamer is klein, het is warm. zijn and hebben: ik ben, ik heb →

The words from A1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: all 29 of the 51 words in this text are at A1 or above. You will know everything else by the time you get here.

dag
hello; goodbye (at any time of day)
A1
dank je wel
thank you very much (informal)
A1
de avond
the evening
A1
de kaas
the cheese
A1
de kamer
room
A1
de koffie
the coffee
A1
de man
man; husband
A1
de ochtend
the morning
A1
de verdieping
floor, storey
A1
de vis
the fish
A1
drinken
to drink
A1
eten
to eat
A1
gaan
to go
A1
groot
big, large
A1
het brood
the bread
A1
het café
café, pub
A1
het centrum
town centre, city centre
A1
het museum
museum
A1
het raam
window
A1
het water
the water
A1
klein
small
A1
komen
to come
A1
lekker
tasty; nice, pleasant
A1
mooi
beautiful, nice
A1
schoon
clean
A1
vragen
to ask
A1
warm
warm
A1
zeggen
to say
A1
zitten
to sit
A1

The word lists for this text

The words in this text appear in 11 lists on this site; the number after each says how many come from that list. Having read the text, you have just needed these very words — and can practise exactly them.

Food and drink 6 Verb forms 6 Town and getting around 3 Home and household 3 Greetings and politeness 2 Colours and shapes 2 Clothes 2 Numbers and time 2 The most important verbs 1 People and family 1 Weather and seasons 1

The verbs on this page, in every form: zijn · gaan · eten · komen · zitten · zeggen · drinken · vragen

Comprehension questions

3 questions on the text. With each answer the sentence it comes from appears — a question whose answer you cannot find in the text tests nothing.

1. Hoe is haar kamer?

2. Waar gaat Lena naartoe in het centrum?

3. Wat eet Lena in de avond?