At a glance
What will be easy
Dutch and English are both West Germanic, so basic words often match: water, hand, arm, warm, appel (apple), boek (book). English even took words from Dutch: yacht (jacht), skate (schaats), landscape (landschap).
Nouns don’t change for case, and present-tense verbs have just three forms: ik werk, jij werkt, wij werken. The past looks familiar too: ik heb gewerkt, “I have worked”.
Many sentences map almost word for word onto English: Ik heb een vraag (I have a question), Hij is ouder dan ik (he is older than me), Wat is dat? (what is that?).
What will be hard
Every noun takes either de or het (de man, de stoel, but het huis, het boek), and there’s rarely a rule to guess it. Learn each noun with its article; the good news is that all plurals take de.
The verb comes second, even after a time word (Morgen ga ik, literally “tomorrow go I”), and moves to the end of subordinate clauses: …omdat ik moe ben. Separable verbs split too: opbellen, but Ik bel je morgen op.
G and ch are a raspy sound at the back of the throat, like the ch in Scottish loch (goed, acht); in the pronunciation column we write it kh. Ui (huis), uu (minuut) and eu (neus) have no English equivalent, and vowel length changes meaning: man (man), maan (moon).
Your first 10 phrases
| Phrase | How to say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hoi! | hoy | Hi! |
| Goedemorgen | khoo-duh-MOR-khuh | Good morning |
| Hoe gaat het? | hoo KHAHT ut | How are you? |
| Dank je wel | dahnk yuh VEL | Thank you (informal) |
| Alstublieft | ahl-stew-BLEEFT | Please (polite); also “here you are” |
| Tot ziens | tot SEENS | Goodbye |
| Hoeveel kost het? | hoo-VAYL kost ut | How much is it? |
| Waar is het toilet? | vahr is ut twah-LET | Where is the toilet? |
| Ik begrijp het niet | ik buh-KHRAYP ut neet | I don’t understand |
| Ik leer Nederlands | ik layr NAY-der-lahnts | I’m learning Dutch |
From A1 to B2: what to learn at each level
- A1
De and het, personal pronouns, the present tense, basic word order and questions, numbers, around 1000 high-frequency words.
- A2
The perfect tense with hebben and zijn (ik heb gewerkt, ik ben gegaan), separable verbs, modal verbs, diminutives in -je.
- B1
Subordinate clauses with the verb at the end, the simple past (ik werkte, ik ging), all the uses of er, around 3000 words.
- B2
The passive, verb clusters (ik had het moeten doen), idioms, differences between Dutch in the Netherlands and in Flanders, 3500 words and more.
How long it takes to learn Dutch
According to the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI), a native English speaker needs about 24 weeks of intensive study to reach professional working proficiency in Dutch. The closer a language is to your own, the faster the road.
More on timing: How long does it take to learn a language to B1 and B2?.
Your first month, 15–20 minutes a day
Spelling and sounds: long and short vowels, oe, ui, ij, eu and the g. Every day 10 minutes of flashcards and 5 minutes of reading aloud.
Pronouns, zijn and hebben, your first 150 words, each learned with de or het. Start listening to short dialogues.
Present tense and word order: verb second, questions, niet and geen. Write 3 sentences a day about your day.
First A1 stories and 300 words in review. Try a five-minute conversation with a native speaker and ask them not to switch to English.
Typical mistakes and how to avoid them
After a time word or adverb, the verb still comes second and the subject follows it: Morgen ga ik naar Amsterdam.
Dutch has no helper verb like do: just put the verb first, Werk jij hier? (do you work here?). In negatives, niet follows the verb: Ik werk niet.
There is no -ing form: “I am working” is simply Ik werk. To stress that it’s happening right now, say Ik ben aan het werken.
Ik wil koffie is “I want coffee”, not a future. For plans use gaan: Ik ga morgen werken. Also watch slim (clever) and door (through; a door is een deur).
Did you know?
- New York began as New Amsterdam and was renamed in 1664; Brooklyn and Harlem are named after the Dutch towns Breukelen and Haarlem, and Santa Claus comes from Sinterklaas.
- Flemish in Belgium is the same language as Dutch in the Netherlands, with its own accent and some local words, much like British and American English.
- Afrikaans, one of South Africa’s official languages, grew out of 17th-century Dutch, and speakers of the two can understand each other quite well, especially in writing.
Dutch exams
The main international certificates: Staatsexamen NT2, CNaVT. Many of them map their levels to the CEFR scale from A1 to C2.
How NewLexi helps you learn Dutch
- Words on your topics. Dutch cards are generated on request or added from the translator, text, a photo or a file.
- Spaced repetition for every word and four mastery levels.
- Stories and dialogues in Dutch at your level, written with your words; tap any word for a translation.
- Dutch grammar from A1 to C2, a writing trainer with AI correction and a chat.
- Lock Screen cards and iPhone widgets to review words on the go.
FAQ
Is Dutch hard for English speakers?
It’s one of the easiest languages for you, in the same group as Spanish, Italian and the Scandinavian languages. Vocabulary and basic grammar come quickly; word order, de and het, and pronunciation take the most practice.
How long does it take to reach B1?
Plan for roughly 350–400 hours of study, about a year at an hour a day. The FSI puts Dutch in its easiest group, at around 24 weeks of full-time study for professional working proficiency.
Which Dutch certificate should I take?
In the Netherlands it’s the Staatsexamen NT2: programme I is B1, and programme II is B2 and required for university study in Dutch. Abroad, the most widely available exam is the CNaVT.
Is it worth learning Dutch if everyone speaks English?
Yes, if you live or work there: English gets you by, but paperwork, many jobs, local news and friendships run in Dutch. Tell people Ik leer Nederlands, and many will happily slow down and stay in Dutch.
