1. Basic Phrases

Note:  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.

2. Pronunciation

3. Alphabet

4. 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.) So 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.

5. Articles and Demonstratives

The definite article is used more in Dutch than in English. It is always used before the names of the seasons, street names and in an abstract sense. There are some idioms that should be memorized, however: in het Nederlands (in Dutch), in de stad (in town), in het zwart (in black), met de auto (by car), met de tijd (in/with time); op tafel (on the table), in zee (in the sea), op kantoor (at the office), in bad (in the bath), op straat (in the street).

6. Subject Pronouns

Unstressed forms (shortened forms used in the spoken language) are in the parentheses. There are also unstressed forms of ik ('k), hij (ie) and het ('t) but these are not written.

7. To Be and to Have

Note:  You must use the subject pronouns; however, I will leave them out of future conjugations.

Expressions with zijn and hebben:

Het/dat is jammer - It's/that's a pity
jarig zijn - to have a birthday
kwijt zijn - to have lost
op het punt staan - to be about to
van plan zijn - to intend
voor elkaar zijn - to be in order
honger / dorst hebben - to be hungry / thirsty
gelijk hebben - to be right
haast hebben - to be in a hurry
het hebben over - to talk about
het druk hebben - to be busy
het koud hebben / warm - to be cold / warm
last hebben van - to be bothered by
nodig hebben - to need
slaap hebben - to be sleepy
zin hebben in - to feel like

8. Useful Words

9. Question Words

10. Numbers

Note:  In the word for twenty-two, the ë is necessary because there are three of the same vowels in a row, and the accent mark shows that the third one needs to be pronounced separately. The use of commas and decimals is reversed in Dutch. Also note that I speak American English, so billion means 1,000,000,000 and not the British counterpart.

11. Days of the Week

12. Months of the Year

13. Seasons

14. Directions

15. Colors

16. Time

17. Weather

18. Family and Pets

19. To Know People and Facts

20. Formation of Plural Nouns

Most plural nouns are formed by adding either -en or -s. Remember that the definite article is always de before plural nouns.

1. -en (the n is pronounced softly) is added to most nouns, with a few spelling changes

boek - boeken book(s)
jas - jassen coat(s)
haar - haren hair(s)
huis - huizen house(s)

Spelling changes: Words with long vowels (aa, ee, oo, and uu) drop the one vowel when another syllable is added. Words with the short vowels (a, e, i, o and u) double the following consonant to keep the vowels short. The letters f and s occur at the end of words or before consonants, while the letters v and z occur in the middle of words before vowels. (These spelling rules are also used for conjugating verbs, so it's best to memorize them as soon as possible.)

2. -s is added to nouns ending in the unstressed syllables -el, -em, -en, and -er (and -aar(d), -erd, -ier when referring to people), foreign words and to most nouns ending in an unstressed vowel

tafel - tafels table(s)
jongen - jongens boy(s)
tante - tantes aunt(s)
bakker - bakkers baker(s)

Nouns ending in the vowels -a, -o, and -u add an apostrophe before the s: foto's, paraplu's

Irregular forms

3. Some nouns containing a short vowel do not double the following consonant in the plural before -en. The plural vowel is then pronounced as long.

bad - baden bath(s)
dag - dagen day(s)
spel - spelen game(s) (like the Olympics, smaller games are spellen)
glas - glazen glass(es)
weg - wegen road(s)

4. A few neuter nouns take the ending -eren (or -deren if the noun ends in -n)

blad - bladeren leaf(leaves)
kind - kinderen child(ren)
ei - eieren egg(s)
been - beenderen bone(s) [Note: been - benen leg(s)]
lied - liederen song(s)
volk - volkeren nation(s), people

5. Nouns ending in -heid have a plural in -heden.

mogelijkheid - mogelijkheden possibility(ies)

6. Some other common irregular plurals are:

stad - steden town(s)
schip - schepen ship(s)
lid - leden member(s)
koe - koeien cow(s)

22. To Do and to Make

Expressions with doen:

doen alsof - to act as though
doen denken aan - to remind of
dichtdoen - to close
opendoen - to open
doen pijn - to hurt, cause pain

23. Work

24. Prepositions

At translates as bij when it's a personal location, such as ik ben bij Jan (I'm at Johns place/I am with John). Om refers to time: om 12 uur (at noon); and aan refers to an impersonal location: aan tafel (at the table). By is met in the sense of ik doe het met de hand (I do it by hand) or ik ga met het vliegtuig (I go by plane). From is van when it refers to a person, een kado van jou (a gift from you); and uit when it is a location, ik kom uit Japan (I come from Japan.) Vandaan indicates from where, as in waar kom jij vandaan (where are you from?)

25. Countries and Nationalities

The feminine form of many occupations and nationalities is indicated by one of five endings. For most nationalities, -e is added, as in Nederlandse (Dutch woman). The endings -in, -es, -esse and -ster are also used to form female counterparts. -ster is added to verbs while -esse replaces the -is ending of some nouns.

26. Negative Sentences

The word niet (not) is used to negate sentences, and is generally placed at the end of the clause. However, niet precedes a preposition, an adjective that follows a noun, and the words binnen (inside), buiten (outside), beneden (downstairs), boven (upstairs) and thuis (at home).

Een is usually not preceded by niet or any phrase ending with niet (ook niet - not either, nog niet - not yet). Instead, geen, ook geen and nog geen replace the article. Geen is translated by not a, not any or no when followed by a noun in English. Geen also negates nouns that cannot be counted, such as water, bier and wijn.

Jan leest niet. Jan does not read.
Hij werkt volgende week ook niet. He is not working next week either.
Ik wil geen kopje koffie. I don't want a cup of coffee.
Zij hebben nog geen huis gevonden. They have not found a house yet.

27.To Come and to Go

28. To and From Countries and Cities

29. Conjugating Regular verbs

English has three ways of expressing the present tense, such as I run, I am running, I do run.  All three of these tenses are translated as one tense in Dutch. Most verbs are regular in Dutch in the present tense, and it is formed by using the verb stem (the infinitive minus the -en), and adding these endings (Note that there is no ending for the first person singular form, and all the plural forms are identical to the infinitive):

There is, however, an alternative present tense to express an action that is currently happening: use zijn aan het with the infinitive. Ik ben aan het koken would translate as I am cooking (right now.)

The perfect tense in English of expressions of "for," "since" and "how long?" are rendered by the present tense in Dutch:
Ik woon hier al vijf jaar. I have lived here for five years.
Hij werkt sinds april met zijn broer. He has been working with his brother since April.

Graag is an adverb used with verbs to express "to like to.." instead of using the verb houden van, which literally means to like or love.

To form questions, simply invert the subject and verb. For the second person singular form (jij), the -t ending of the conjugated verb is dropped. Dutch does not have an equivalent of the English "do" in questions, so Woon jij in Rotterdam? means Do you live in Rotterdam? although it literally is Live you in Rotterdam?

30. Irregularities in Regular verbs 

When you add the present tense endings, you must observe the regular spelling rules in Dutch. Words with long vowels (aa, ee, oo, and uu) drop the one vowel when another syllable is added. Words with the short vowels (a, e, i, o and u) double the following consonant to keep the vowels short. The letters f and s occur at the end of words or before consonants, while the letters v and z occur in the middle of words before vowels.

One verb that does not follow the spelling rule is komen. The singular forms are all written and pronounced with the short o, while the plural forms are written and pronounced with the long o: kom, komt and komen. (According to the spelling rules, the singular forms should be the long o, but they are not.)

There are five verbs whose ending is only -n: gaan (to go), staan (to stand), slaan (to hit), doen (to do) and zien (to see); the first three change according to the spelling rules.

If a stem ends in -t, you do not add another -t for the second and third person singular forms. zitten - to sit; hij zit - he sits

Verb stems that end in -oud and -ijd drop the -d in the first person singular and in question forms of the second person singular form. The -d can be written, but it is not pronounced. rijden - to ride; ik rij(d) - I ride; rij(d) jij? - do you ride?

31. Modal Verbs

In Dutch, there are four modals: kunnen - to be able to, can; moeten - to have to, must; mogen - to be allowed to, may; and willen - to want to. Modals can be used with other infinitives without the use of prepositions.

The -t of kunt and wilt are dropped in inversions with jij, but not with moet. Kan and kunt are used interchangeably for the second person singular form of kunnen.

Common verbs, such as doen and gaan, can be omitted in Dutch after modals, but not in the English translation. In addition, impersonal constructions with het/dat + modals are used. Dat kan. That's possible/can be done.
Het moet. It must be done.

32. Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs express an action that reciprocates back to the subject. In other words, whoever is speaking is doing an action to himself. Examples in English would be: I wash myself, he hurts himself, we hate ourselves. The reflexive pronouns always follow the subject and verb.

Reflexive Pronouns

The reflexive pronoun u is often replaced by zich to avoid the double occurrence of u.

Verbs that are always reflexive

Verbs that can be reflexive or used with other direct objects

Emphatic Forms

The emphatic forms of the reflexive pronouns can only be used with the verbs that can be reflexive or used with other direct objects, and never with verbs that are always reflexive.

Elkaar is used when there is a reciprocal meaning of "each other" in English.

33. Verbs followed by Prepositions

34. Separable Prefixes

35. Inseparable Prefixes

36. Present Perfect or Past Indefinite Tense

This tense is used more often than the simple past, especially in conversation, and is equivalent to I have asked or I asked.  Regular verbs use a form of hebben or zijn and a past participle.  Past participles are made by adding ge- to the beginning of the verb stem and -t or -d to the end.   Verb stems are the infinitives minus the -en, with the appropriate spelling changes. The stems are identical to the first person singular present tense form.

-t is added to stems ending in t, k, f, s, ch, and p (note that if the stem ends in -t already, you do not double the consonant), while -d is added to all other stems, except those already ending in -d. (If a stem ends in -f or -s, but the infinitive contained -v or -z, then still add a -d)

Verbs with inseparable prefixes do not add ge- in this tense. Verbs with separable prefixes add the ge after the prefix and before the stem (afgemaakt).

Hebben vs. Zijn
Some verbs of motion can take either hebben or zijn depending on whether it is the action that is stressed (hebben) or the destination/direction (zijn.) Verbs taking zijn are generally intransitive (they do not take direct objects) and denote a change in motion/position or change in state/condition. Most verbs derived from zijn verbs also take zijn in the perfect tense.

Modals
The past participles of the modals (kunnen: gekund; moeten: gemoeten; mogen: gemoogd, willen: gewild) are only used when the modal is used independently of another verb.
Ik heb het gemoeten. I had to (do it).

If the perfect tense of a modal is used with another verb, then the past participle of the modal is replaced by its infinitive. This double infinitive construction (infinitive of modal + other infinitive) is always placed at the end of the clause or sentence.
Ik heb gisteren kunnen komen. I was able to come yesterday.

37. Irregular Past Participles

38. Zijn Verbs

A few common verbs take zijn instead of hebben in the present perfect tense:

39. Food and Meals

40. Fruits, Vegetables and Meats

Dutch word order requires Time - Manner - Place. English generally uses place before time, but Dutch cannot.
Hij gaat morgen met de trein naar Londen. He's going to London tomorrow by train. (Literally: he's going tomorrow by train to London.)

The verb must always be in the second position in a Dutch sentence. This not does not mean that it must always be the second word, however. (Inversion of subject and verb to form questions is an exception.)
In de winter gaat hij met de trein naar Londen. In the winter he's going to London by train. (Literally: In the winter goes he by train to London.)

Separable prefixes, past participles and infinitive always go to the end of the clause or sentence. The double infinitive construction always goes to the end of the clause or sentence as well.

42. Commands

The stem with the appropriate spelling changes is most commonly used as the command form. When being polite, the u form is used (with u following the verb.) If a verb has a separable prefix, it is sent to the end of the clause. The "let's" form plus a verb is rendered in Dutch by laten we + infinitive. When the command is general and no one in particular is being addressed, the infinitive is used, especially on signs.

Kijk! Look!
Laat mij het doen! Let me do it!
Blijft u zitten. Please remain seated.
Kijk uit! Look out!
Laten we gaan. Let's go.
Niet roken. No smoking.
Trekken / Duwen. Pull / Push.

Note that zijn has an irregular imperative form: wees (and the polite form: weest u)

43. Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two sentences together. Word order is not affected by coordinating conjunctions. Examples are en (and), dus (so, thus), maar (but), of (or) and want (for, because).

Subordinating conjunctions are used to connect an independent and dependent clause together, and they do affect word order.  An independent (or main) clause contains a subject and verb and can stand alone as its own sentence.  A dependent (or subordinate) clause also contains a subject and verb, but is introduced with a subordinating conjunction and cannot stand alone as its own sentence.

Mijn zoon was ziek, toen hij klein was. My son was sick when he was little.
Ik weet dat jij mij leuk vindt. I know that you like me.

When a subordinating conjunction introduces a clause, the next clause must begin with a verb.

Hoewel hij jong is, is hij erg rijk. Although he is young, he is very rich.
Zodra ik klaar ben, kom ik even langs. As soon as I'm ready, I'll come over.

Subordinating Conjunctions

44. Holiday Phrases

Note: Zalig is the word traditionally used by Catholics (the Pope uses it) when saying something in Dutch at Christmas. Protestants say Prettige kerstdagen (nice), Gelukkig kerstfeest (happy), of Vrolijk kerstfeest (cheerful); a lot of variation is possible.

45. Blijven and Laten

Blijven (to remain) can be used with an infinitive to express a continuous or repeated action.  Blijven acts like a modal verb in the sentence; blijven is conjugated and the other verb remains in the infinitive and goes to the end of the sentence.

De kat blijft naar de muis kijken.  The cat keeps looking at the mouse.
Blijft u maar zitten!  Please remain seated!

Laten (to let, leave) can also behave like a modal verb when used with another verb.  It corresponds to "to let" or "to have something done (by someone else)."  In the perfect tense, laten also behaves like a modal because the infinitive is used instead of the past participle when it occurs with another verb.

Laten we naar huis gaan.  Let's go home.
Zij laat haar kamer verven.  She's having her room painted.
Hij heeft zijn auto laten wassen.  He's had his car washed.

46. Places

47. Transportation

48. Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense in Dutch corresponds to the simple past tense in English.  It is not a compound tense like the perfect tense, and some verbs have vowel changes, as in English.  Generally, the simple past tense is indicated in English by adding -ed to the verb (for regular verbs, at least.)  This tense is used for actions that happened in the past and that are completely done.  To form the past tense, add -te (or -de) to the stem for the singular persons and -ten (or -den) to the stem for the plural persons.  If the verb stem ends in p, t, k, f, s, or ch, add -te or -ten; for all other endings, add -de or -den.  Verbs that have either v or z as the final consonant of the stem change them to f or s first and then add -de and -den.
 

49. Irregular Stems in Simple Past Tense

For some verbs, the internal vowel of the stem changes in the past tense.  The stem with the changed vowel then acts as the past tense for all persons of the singular, while the plural adds -en to the changed stem.  In addition, there are some irregular verbs that change more than the vowel, but still add nothing for the singular and -en for the plural.
 

51. Staan, liggen and zitten

These verbs are all translated as "to be" in certain cases.  When an object is in an upright position, staan is used.  When an object is lying down, liggen is used.  When an object is inside of something else, zitten is used.

De auto staat voor het huis.  The car is in front of the house.
De krant ligt op de grond.  The newspaper is on the floor.
De pen zit in de tas.  The pen is in the bag.

52. Clothing

53. Future Tense

The future tense consists of a conjugated form of zullen and an infinitive at the end of the sentence.  Zullen is irregular, however, and the jij / u form "zal" is used less often than zult.  The future tense can also be used to express probability.  When it does, wel is added to the sentence.

De reis zal twee uur duren.  The trip will last two hours.
Wij zullen het wel weten.  We will probably know it.

The regular present tense can also express a future event with the use of time expressions.  This is common in English too.

Morgen gaan zij naar Rotterdam.  They're going to Rotterdam tomorrow.

Gaan and an infinitive at the end of the sentence can also be used to express the future.  This is equivalent to the English construction "going to + verb."

Ik ga een brief schrijven.  I'm going to write a letter.