Dutch — Basic
Dutch — Basic Level
Dutch is spoken by approximately 23 million people in the Netherlands and Belgium (where it is called Flemish). It is structurally very close to both English and German, making it one of the most accessible languages for speakers of either. The Foreign Service Institute ranks it among the easiest languages for English speakers to learn.
The English Connection
Dutch and English diverged from the same Germanic root relatively recently in linguistic terms. The similarities are extensive:
Vocabulary: arm, been (leg — cognate of "been"), blind, brood (bread), dood (dead), drink, goed (good), groen (green), hand, hard, huis (house), koud (cold), land, licht (light), man, meer (more), melk (milk), nacht (night), nieuw (new), oud (old), rood (red), stil (still), water, wind, wit (white), zwart (black)
Grammar: Dutch verb conjugation, word order, and case system (much reduced from German) follow patterns that feel intuitive to English speakers more often than German does.
Pronunciation Essentials
The G/CH: the defining Dutch sound. Practice: say "loch" as in the Scottish lake, but voiced. Use this for every G in Dutch. Without it, Dutch speakers won't recognise your Dutch.
UI: Dutch "ui" sounds approximately like "ow" with rounded lips. "Huis" (house) = roughly "howss" but with rounder vowel. "Trui" (sweater), "duim" (thumb).
IJ/EI: both sound like "ay" in "say" — "mijn" (my), "zijn" (to be), "ijsje" (ice cream).
AU/OU: sounds like English "ow" in "cow" — "blauw" (blue), "hout" (wood).
Essential Phrases
Daily: Goedemorgen, Hoe gaat het? (How are you?), Goed, dank je (Fine, thanks), Spreekt u Engels? (Do you speak English? — formal), Ik begrijp het niet (I don't understand), Kunt u dat herhalen? (Can you repeat that?)
Navigation: Waar is…? (Where is…?), het toilet (the toilet), Hoeveel kost het? (How much does it cost?)
Verb Conjugation: Regular -en Verbs
"werken" (to work): ik werk, jij/je werkt, hij/zij/het werkt, wij werken, jullie werken, zij werken
Note: "jij" before the verb drops the -t: "jij werkt" but "werk jij?" (do you work? — inversion drops -t). This inversion rule is one of Dutch's quirks.