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Introduction
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Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Basic Dutch Phrases ................................................................................................................................................. 6
Pronunciation ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Alphabet ................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Nouns and Gender ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Articles & Demonstratives ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Subject Pronouns ................................................................................................................................................... 12
To Be & to Have ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Useful Words.......................................................................................................................................................... 15
Question Words ..................................................................................................................................................... 16
Numbers................................................................................................................................................................. 17
Days of the Week ................................................................................................................................................... 19
Months of the Year ................................................................................................................................................ 20
Seasons .................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Directions ............................................................................................................................................................... 21
Colors & Shapes ..................................................................................................................................................... 22
Time ....................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Weather ................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Family & Pets.......................................................................................................................................................... 25
To Know People and Facts...................................................................................................................................... 27
Formation of Plural Nouns ..................................................................................................................................... 28
Possessive Adjectives ............................................................................................................................................. 30
To Do and to Make ................................................................................................................................................. 31
Work....................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Prepositions ........................................................................................................................................................... 34
Countries and Nationalities .................................................................................................................................... 35
Negative Sentences ................................................................................................................................................ 37
To Come and to Go................................................................................................................................................. 38
To and From Countries and Cities .......................................................................................................................... 38
Conjugating Regular verbs...................................................................................................................................... 39
Irregularities in Regular verbs ................................................................................................................................ 40
Modal Verbs ........................................................................................................................................................... 42
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Reflexive Verbs ....................................................................................................................................................... 43
Verbs followed by Prepositions .............................................................................................................................. 45
Separable Prefixes .................................................................................................................................................. 46
Inseparable Prefixes ............................................................................................................................................... 46
Present Perfect or Past Indefinite Tense ................................................................................................................ 47
Irregular Past Participles ........................................................................................................................................ 49
Food and Meals ...................................................................................................................................................... 51
Fruits, Vegetables and Meat .................................................................................................................................. 52
Commands ............................................................................................................................................................. 53
Word Order ............................................................................................................................................................ 54
Coordinating & Subordinating Conjunctions .......................................................................................................... 55
Blijven and Laten .................................................................................................................................................... 56
Staan, liggen and zitten .......................................................................................................................................... 56
Places ..................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Transportation ....................................................................................................................................................... 58
Simple Past Tense................................................................................................................................................... 59
Irregular Stems in Simple Past Tense ..................................................................................................................... 60
House and Furniture .............................................................................................................................................. 61
Clothing & Accessories ........................................................................................................................................... 63
Future Tense .......................................................................................................................................................... 64
Verb Meanings ....................................................................................................................................................... 65
Inflections of Adjectives ......................................................................................................................................... 66
Adjectives ............................................................................................................................................................... 67
Comparative and Superlative ................................................................................................................................. 69
Sports ..................................................................................................................................................................... 71
Nature .................................................................................................................................................................... 72
Object Pronouns..................................................................................................................................................... 74
Parts of the Body .................................................................................................................................................... 75
Relative Pronouns .................................................................................................................................................. 77
Uses of Er ............................................................................................................................................................... 78
Animals................................................................................................................................................................... 79
Infinitive Constructions .......................................................................................................................................... 82
Past Perfect Tense .................................................................................................................................................. 83
Conditional ............................................................................................................................................................. 83
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Diminutives ............................................................................................................................................................ 84
Present Participle ................................................................................................................................................... 85
Passive Voice .......................................................................................................................................................... 86
Holiday Phrases ...................................................................................................................................................... 87
National Anthems .................................................................................................................................................. 88
Dutch Realia ........................................................................................................................................................... 90
Other Resources ................................................................................................................................................... 100
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Basic Dutch Phrases
Good Morning Goedemorgen khoo-duh-mawr-ghuh
Good Day Goedemiddag khoo-duh-mih-dahkh
Good Evening Goedenavond khoo-duh-nah-fohnt
Good Night Goedenacht khoo-duh-nahkht
Hi / Bye Hoi / Hallo / Daag / Doei hoy / hah-loh / dahk / doo-ee
Goodbye Tot ziens toht zeens
See you later (in the same day) Tot straks toht straks
See you soon Tot zo toht zoh
Please Alstublieft / Alsjeblieft ahlst-ew-bleeft / ahl-shuh-bleeft
Thank you Dank u wel / Dank je wel dahnk-ew-vehl / dahnk-yuh-vehl
Thank you very much Hartelijk bedankt hahr-tuh-lik buh-dahnkt
You're welcome (don't Graag gedaan khrahkh khuh-dahn
mention it)
I'm sorry / Excuse me Sorry saw-ree
Pardon me (didn't understand) Pardon, wat zei u? pahr-dohn, vat zay ew
Yes / No Ja / Nee yah / nay
How are you? (formal) Hoe gaat het met u? hoo khaht ut meht ew
How are you? (informal) Hoe gaat het? hoo khaht ut
Fine / Very well Goed / Heel goed khoot / hayl khoot
So so / Bad Het gaat / Slecht uht khaht / slehkht
I'm tired / sick. Ik ben moe / ziek ik ben moo / zeek
I'm hungry / thirsty. Ik heb honger / dorst ik heb hohng-ur / dohrst
What's your name? (formal) Hoe heet u? hoo hayt ew
What's your name? (informal) Hoe heet je? hoo hayt yuh
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My name is (I'm called)... Ik heet... ik hayt...
I am... Ik ben... ik ben
Nice to meet you. Aangenaam (kennis te maken) ahn-guh-nahm (ken-nis tuh
mah-kuh)
Mister / Misses / Miss meneer / mevrouw / muh-nayr / muh-frow / muh-
mejuffrouw yuh-frow
Where are you from? (formal) Waar komt u vandaan? vahr kawmt ew fun-dahn
Where are you from? Waar kom je vandaan? vahr kawn yuh fun-dahn
(informal)
I am from the Netherlands. Ik kom uit Nederland. ik kawm owt nay-der-lant
Where do you live? (formal) Waar woont u? vahr vohnt ew
Where do you live? (informal) Waar woon je? vahr vohn yuh
I live in America. Ik woon in Amerika. ik vohn in ah-meh-ree-kah
How old are you? (formal) Hoe oud bent u? hoo owt bent ew
How old are you? (informal) Hoe oud ben je? hoo owt ben yuh
I am ____ years old. Ik ben ... jaar (oud). ik ben ... yahr owt
Do you speak Dutch? (formal) Spreekt u Nederlands? spraykt ew nay-der-lahnds
Do you speak English? Spreek je Engels? sprayk yuh ehng-uhls
informal)
I [don't] speak... Ik spreek [geen]... ik sprayk [khayn]
I don't speak ... very well. Ik spreek niet zo goed... ik sprayk neet zoh khood
I [don't] understand. Ik begrijp het [niet.] ik buh-khraip ut neet
I [don't] know. Ik weet het [niet.] ik vayt ut [neet]
How much is it? Wat kost het? vat kohst ut
I'd like... Ik wil graag... ik vil khrahk
Cheers! Proost! prohst
Have fun! Veel plezier! fayl pleh-zeer
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Good luck! Veel succes! fayl suk-sehs
Be careful! Wees voorzichtig! vays fohr-zikh-tikh
That is great / terrible! Dat is geweldig / vreselijk! dat is khuh-vehl-duhkh / fray-
zuh-likh
I love you. (informal) Ik hou van je. ik how fahn yuh
I love you (all). Ik hou van jullie. ik how fahn juh-lee
How funny / odd! Wat vreemd! vaht fraymt
What a pity! Wat jammer! vaht yah-mer
What is this / that? Wat is dit / dat? vut iss dit / dut
In the pronunciations, kh denotes a uvular guttural sound.
Meneer, mevrouw and mejuffrouw are all written with a small letter when they precede a name.
When typing, de Heer is used instead of meneer and Dhr. is used on envelopes. Mevrouw and
mejuffrouw are abbreviated as Mevr. and Mej. In addition, Mw. can be used as an equivalent of the
English Ms.
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Pronunciation
Dutch letters English sound
ch guttural sound, made at back of mouth
sch s followed by guttural ch sound
g same as ch, guttural sound from back of mouth
w like v before r, otherwise like w but with bottom lip against top teeth
v like v, but sometimes closer to f
r either rolled or guttural
j y as in yes
sj sh as in ship
tj ch as in chip
aa ah as in father, but longer
ee ay as in hail, but shorter
ie ee as in neat, but shorter
oo oh as in boat
oe oo as in pool, but shorter
eu ur as in hurt, but with lips rounded
uu ew, but with lips rounded (sound not found in English)
a ah as in father, but shorter
e eh as in bed
i ih as in bit
o aw as in paw, with lips rounded
u ir as in dirt, but very short
ei / ij between the sounds in "light" and "late"
aai combination of aa and ie
oei combination of oe and ie
ooi combination of oo and ie
ou / au like ow, as in house
eeuw combination of ee and oe
ieuw combination of ie and oe
uw combination of uu and oe
ui combination of a and uu
The consonants s, f, h, b, d, z, l, m, n, and ng are pronounced the same way in Dutch as in English. P,
t, and k are pronounced without the puff of air (called aspiration.) Sometimes the g is pronounced
like zh in words borrowed from French. One last vowel sound is found in various Dutch spellings. It is
pronounced like uh, as in along or sofa. For example, this sound is found in de (the), een (a), aardig
(nice), and vriendelijk (kind).
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Alphabet
a ah j yay s ess
b bay k kah t tay
c say l ell u ew
d day m emm v fay
e ay n enn w vay
f eff o oh x eeks
g khay p pay y ee-grek
h hah q kew z zett
i ee r air
Nouns and Gender
All nouns have a gender in Dutch, either common (de words) or neuter (het words). It is hard to
guess which gender a noun is, so it is best to memorize the genders when memorizing vocabulary.
However, two-thirds of Dutch words are common gender (because the common gender has
combined the former feminine and masculine genders.) It may be easier to memorize which nouns
are neuter, and then assign common gender to the rest.
All diminutives (words ending in -je) and infinitives used as nouns, as well as colors, metals, compass
directions, and all words that end in -um, -aat, -sel, -isme are neuter.
Most nouns beginning with ge- and ending with -te are neuter, as are most nouns beginning with ge-,
be-, and ver-.
Common noun endings include: -aar, -ent, -er, -es, -eur, -heid, -ij, -ing, -teit, -tie.
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