Beginner level

Intermediate level

Advanced level

Cycle 1

Cycle 2

Cycle 3

Cycle 4

Cycle 5

Cycle 6

Main

Main

Practice

Practice

Examples

Examples

Quiz

Main page

Introduction

Pronunciation

Vocabulary

Index

News

Nederlands ~ Engels

Dutch ~ English

• Table of contents

Welcome!

Welcome to the Dutch language course. Notice the arrows under the images of a number of cities where Dutch is spoken? Click on the arrow to hear how their names are pronounced in Dutch. There may be some surprises!

Information about the course

If you want more information on the course, here are a few pages that may give you that.

Topics
Voorkant The cover, frontpage	Voorwoord - How to use this textbook	Uitspraak - The pronunciation
Woordenschat - Audio-visual Vocabulary	Index - Index - (under construction)	Wat is er nieuw? - What's new? - Latest edits.

The lessons

If you want to jump right in and start learning: there are three types of lessons:

Main lessons concentrate mostly on conversations to introduce grammar
Practice lessons concentrate mostly on practicing grammar, vocabulary building, listening, quizzes
Cultural lessons teach language the fun way. Songs, stories, poems, videos etc.

There are three levels, each consisting of two cycles of four lessons each.

Beginner level

Cycle 1: Lesson 1 through 4 : Words, nouns, adjectives, articles
Main lesson		Practice lesson		Cultural lesson		Terms	Cumul.
Les 1: Hallo!	Introduction, conversations, personal pronouns	Les 1A:	Some more conversations.	Vb. 1	Nursery rhymes Poesje en Hondje	226	226
Les 2: Collega's en vrienden	Verbs (introduction), polite and familiar conversations, word order in questions.	Les 2A	Some more inflection.	Vb. 2	Ik ben een muzikant Schaatsen De wielen van de bus	161	387
Les 3: Getallen	Numbers 1 to 12, telling time, gender; the reference problem.	Les 3A:	Some more time telling.	Vb. 3	Hoedje van papier Zevensprong	89	476
Les 4: Geen geld.	Indefinite articles, more pronouns, plural of nouns.	Les 4A:	Fruits, plurals and negations	Vb. 4	Wat zullen we drinken.	103	579
Dutch/Quiz/Cycle1					Total number of tems	579	579

Cycle 2: Lesson 5 through 8 : Verbs, tenses, compounds, diminutives, "er"
Main lesson		Practice lesson		Cultural lesson		Terms	Cumul.
Les 5: De weg vinden	Asking directions, conjugating regular verbs in the present.	Les 5A:	Practice the present tense	Vb. 5	Tulips	87	666
Les 6:	Numbers 13-100, colors. Past and perfect tense	Les 6a:	Past and perfect tense: weak and class I, II, III strong	Vb. 6:	Some poetry - van Alphen	124	790
Les 7:	Samenstellingen - Compounds Diminutives	Les 7a:	Past and perfect tense: class IV, V, VI and VII strong	Vb. 7:	Some poetry -Gorter	163	953
Les 8:	Er and the adverbial pronouns. Pronominal replacement. Translating its.	Les 8a:	Vervanging ~ Replacement Tennis	Vb. 8:	Minderheden ~ Minorities	100	1053
Dutch/Quiz/Cycle2					Total number of tems	474	1053

At the end of this level learners should be able to form simple sentences in the basic tenses and possess a vocabulary of just over 1000 terms.

Intermediate level

Cycle 3: Lesson 9 through 12 : Modal and separable verbs, passive voice
Main lesson		Practice lesson		Cultural lesson
Les 9:	Modal verbs, Zullen and laten. Future and conditional.	Les 9a:	Modal / future Days / Months	Vb. 9:	Some poetry ~ Gezelle
Les 10:	Separable verbs.	Les 10a:	Separability	Vb. 10:	Poetry - De Génestet; Bird song
Les 11:	Interrogative and Relative pronouns. Conjunctions and subjunctions Word order. Copulas	Les 11a:	Conjunctions, dependent clauses	Vb. 11:	Song of the Lutine
Les 12:	Passive voice.	Les 12a:	Passive voice, intervocalic -d-	Vb. 12:	Wartime poetry Jan Campert

Cycle 4: Lesson 13 through 16 : Modal particles, verbal nouns
Main lesson		Practice lesson	Cultural lesson
Les 13:	Adjectives	Les 13a:	Vb. 13:	Tempo Doeloe
Les 14:	Verbal nouns	Les 14a:	Vb. 14:	De Watersnoodramp
Les 15:	Modal particles, case endings	Les 15a:	Vb. 15:	Poetry - Vondel, Tollens, Van Duyse
Les 16:	Review of werkwoorden verbs	Les 16a:	Vb. 16:	Souterliedekens

At the end of this level learners should be able to deal with complex sentences with complex verbal expressions and have a reasonable grasp of syntax.

Advanced level

Cycle 5: Lesson 17 through 20 : Adverbs, separability
Main lesson
Les 17:	Adverbs and Prepositions
Les 18:	Word order of separable verbs
Les 19:	Inseparable verbs
Les 20:	Exclamations!

Cycle 6: Lesson 21 through 23 : Special topics
Main lesson
Les 21:	That difficult word order...
Les 22:	Participles
Les 23:	Triple separability

At the end of this level learners should have full command over Dutch grammar and syntax, including a number of special topics.

Special lessons

This course is mostly based on (northern) standard Dutch, but it will at times go into the differences with other varieties. There are two special lessons that consider the relationship of northern standard Dutch with Afrikaans and Flemish

Afrikaans — Comparison with Afrikaans, the language of South Africa and Namibia, and derived from Dutch.

Until 1928 it was seen as the same language as Dutch. Then both Dutch and Afrikaans became official languages of South Africa. Dutch ceased to have that role in 1961.

Afrikaans has its own wikibook, if you wish to learn it.

Vlaams — Flemish is a special case, not a language and not a dialect. It is commonly spoken in Flanders but has no official status or anything comparable.

Appendix

Dutch edition of Wikibooks.

I	This is a Category I Language.

Een — Het alfabet ~ Dutch alphabet and Pronunciation Guide
Twee – Zinnenboek ~ Common phrases in Dutch (Book of Sentences)
Drie – Pronouns
Vier – Websites
Vijf – Hoe laat is het? ~ Asking the time
Zes – Handig - Handy links - Newspapers in Dutch (& Afrikaans)

Under construction

For children