1.

BASIC PHRASES

Goedemorgen Goedemiddag Goedenavond

khoo-duh-mawr-ghuh khoo-duh-mih-dahkh khoo-duh-nah-fohnt
Good Morning Good Day Good Evening

Hoi / Hallo / Daag / Doei

Goedenacht Tot ziens
hoy / hah-loh / dahk / doo-
khoo-duh-nahkht toht zeens
ee
Good Night Goodbye
Hi / Bye

Tot straks Alstublieft / Alsjeblieft

Tot zo
toht straks ahlst-ew-bleeft / ahl-shuh-
toht zoh
See you later (in the bleeft
See you soon
same day) Please

Dank u wel / Dank je

Graag gedaan
wel Hartelijk bedankt
khrahkh khuh-dahn
dahnk-ew-vehl / dahnk- hahr-tuh-lik buh-dahnkt 
You're welcome (don't
yuh-vehl  Thank you very much
mention it)
Thank you

Pardon, wat zei u?

Sorry Ja / Nee
 pahr-dohn, vat zay ew
saw-ree yah / nay 
Pardon me (didn't
I'm sorry / Excuse me Yes / No
understand)

Hoe gaat het met u? Hoe gaat het? Goed / Heel goed
hoo khaht ut meht ew  hoo khaht ut  khoot / hayl khoot 
How are you? (formal) How are you? (informal) Fine / Very well

Het gaat / Slecht Ik ben moe / ziek Ik heb honger / dorst

uht khaht / slehkht ik ben moo / zeek  ik heb hohng-ur / dohrst 
So so / Bad I'm tired / sick. I'm hungry / thirsty.

Hoe heet u? Hoe heet je?

Ik heet...
hoo hayt ew  hoo hayt yuh
ik hayt...
What's your name? What's your name?
My name is (I'm called)...
(formal) (informal)

Aangenaam (kennis te meneer / mevrouw /

Ik ben... maken) mejuffrouw
ik ben ahn-guh-nahm (ken-nis muh-nayr / muh-frow /
I am... tuh mah-kuh) muh-yuh-frow
Nice to meet you. Mister / Misses / Miss
Waar komt u vandaan? Waar kom je vandaan? Ik kom uit Nederland.
vahr kawmt ew fun-dahn vahr kawn yuh fun-dahn ik kawm owt nay-der-lant 
Where are you from? Where are you from? I am from the
(formal) (informal) Netherlands.

Waar woont u? Waar woon je?

Ik woon in Amerika.
vahr vohnt ew  vahr vohn yuh
ik vohn in ah-meh-ree-kah
Where do you live? Where do you live?
I live in America.
(formal) (informal)

Hoe oud bent u? Hoe oud ben je?

Ik ben ... jaar (oud).
hoo owt bent ew  hoo owt ben yuh
ik ben ... yahr owt 
How old are you? How old are you?
I am ____ years old.
(formal) (informal)

Spreekt u Nederlands?
Spreek je Engels?
spraykt ew nay-der- Ik spreek [geen]...
sprayk yuh ehng-uhls
lahnds ik sprayk [khayn]
[khayn]
Do you speak English?
Do you speak Dutch? I [don't] speak...
(informal)
(formal)

Ik spreek niet zo goed... Ik begrijp het [niet.] Ik weet het [niet.]

ik sprayk neet zoh khood  ik buh-khraip ut neet  ik vayt ut [neet] 
I don't speak ... very well. I [don't] understand. I [don't] know.

Wat kost het? Ik wil graag... Proost!

vat kohst ut  ik vil khrahk   prohst 
How much is it? I'd like... Cheers!

Veel plezier! Veel succes! Wees voorzichtig!

fayl pleh-zeer  fayl suk-sehs vays fohr-zikh-tikh
Have fun! Good luck! Be careful!

Dat is geweldig /
vreselijk!
dat is khuh-vehl-duhkh /
fray-zuh-likh
That is great / terrible!
Ik hou van je. Ik hou van jullie.
ik how fahn yuh ik how fahn juh-lee
I love you. (informal) I love you (all).

Wat vreemd! Wat jammer! Wat is dit / dat?

vaht fraymt  vaht yah-mer  vut iss dit / dut 
How funny / odd! What a pity! What is this / that?

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
W hen typing, de Heer is
used instead of meneer and Dhr. is
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
Dutch
English sound
letters
guttural sound, made at back of mouth
ch s followed by guttural ch sound
sch same as ch, guttural sound from back of mouth
g like v before r, otherwise like w but with bottom lip
w 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
li ps rounded
uu ew, but with lips rounded (sound not found in
a English)
e ah as in father, but shorter
i eh as in bed
o ih as in bit
u aw as in paw, with lips rounded
ei / ij ir as in dirt, but very short
aai between the sounds in "light" and "late"
oei combination of aa and ie
ooi combination of oe and ie
ou / au combination of oo and ie
eeuw like ow, as in house
ieuw combination of ee and oe
uw combination of ie and oe
ui combination of uu and oe
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 i n words borrowed
from French. One last vowel sound is found in various Dutch
spellings. It is pronounced like uh, as in along or sof a. For
example, this sound is found in de
d e (the), een
een (a), aardi
aardig
(nice), and vriendelij
vriendelijk
k (kind).

3. 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

4. NOUNS AND GENDER

 All nouns have a gender
gender in Dutch, either common (de (de words)
 words)
or neuter (het
(het words).
 words). It is hard to guess which gender a
noun is, so it is best to memorize the genders when
memorizing vocabulary.
vocabulary. However, two-thirds
t wo-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 & DEMONSTRATIVES

common neuter 
Singular "the" de het
Plural "the" de
Indefinite "a" or
een
"an"
 common neuter 
Singular 
this deze dit
that die dat
Plural
these deze
those die

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
Nederlands (in
Dutch), in de stad (in
stad (in town), in het zwart (in
zwart (in black), met
black), met de
auto (by
auto (by car), met de tijd (in/with
tijd (in/with time); op tafel (on
tafel (on the
table), in zee (in
zee (in the sea), op kantoor (at the office), in bad
(in the bath), op
bath), op straat (in
straat (in the street).

6. SUBJECT PRONOUNS

ik ik  I wij (we) vay  we

you (singular
 jij (je) yay yew- you (plural
informal)  jullie
u ew  lee informal)
you (formal)

hij hay he
zij (ze) zay she zij (ze) zay  they
het ut  it

Unstressed forms (shortened forms used mostly in the

spoken language) are in parentheses. There are also
unstressed forms of ik ('k
('k),
), hij (ie
(ie)) and het ('t
('t)) but these are
not written in the standard language. You will see them in
informal writing, however (such as on internet forums or
sometimes in film subtitles.)

7. TO BE & TO HAVE
Present tense of zijn - to be (zayn)
I am ik ben ik ben we are wij zijn vay zayn
yay / ew
You are  jij / u bent you are  jullie zijn yew-lee zayn
bent 
hay, zay, ut
He, she, it is hij, zij, het is they are zij zijn zay zayn
is
Present tense of hebben - to have (heh-buhn)
I have ik heb ik hep we have wij hebben vay heh-buhn
You have  jij / u hebt yay / ew hept  you have  jullie hebben yew-lee heh-buhn
He, she, it hij, zij, het hay, zay, ut
they have zij hebben zay heh-buhn
is heeft hayft 
 rather
 rather than u h e b t  is
U heeft   is also possible.
 

Past tense of zijn - to be (zayn)

I was ik was ik vas we were wij waren vay vah-ruhn
yew-lee vah-
You were  jij / u was yay / ew vas you were  jullie waren
ruhn
He, she, it hij, zij, het hay, zay, ut
they were zij waren zay vah-ruhn
was was vas
Past tense of hebben - to have (heh-buhn)
I had ik had ik haht  we had wij hadden vay hah-duhn
yay / ew yew-lee hah-
You had  jij / u had you had  jullie hadden
haht  duhn
He, she, it hij, zij, het hay, zay, ut
they had zij hadden zay hah-duhn
had had haht 

You must use the subject pronouns; however, I will leave

them out of future conjugations since most verbs only have
two forms for each conjugation.
Expressions with zijn and hebben:
Het/dat is jammer  -  - It's/that's a pity
 jarig zijn -
zijn - to have a birthday
kwijt zijn - to have lost
op het punt staan -
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 -
hebben - to be right
haast hebben - to be in a hurry
het hebben over  -  - to talk about
het druk hebben -
hebben - to be busy
het koud hebben / warm - warm - to be cold / warm
last hebben van -
van - to be bothered by
nodig hebben -
hebben - to need
slaap hebben -
hebben - to be sleepy
zin hebben in -in - to feel like

8. USEFUL WORDS
sometimes soms
always altijd
never nooit
 often vaak, dikwijls
usually gewoonlijk
now nu
and en
but maar 
or of 
very zeer, heel
here hier 
there daar 
also ook
much veel
another een ander 
already al
perhaps misschien

9. QUESTION WORDS
who wie 
wie  where waar 
what wat where to waar... naartoe
why waarom where from waar... vandaan
when wanneer   which welk / welke
how hoe Isn't it?, etc. niet waar?

Welk is used before het words, and welke is used before de

words and plural nouns. Niet waar is a tag question, and is
added to the end of statements to make them questions. It
can translate several ways into English: isn't it?, doesn't it?,
isn't he?, doesn't he?, isn't she?, doesn't she?, aren't we?,
don't we?, aren't they?, don't they?, aren't you?, don't you?,
right?, yes?, etc.

10. NUMBERS
0 nul
1 een 
een  1st eerste
2 twee 
twee  2nd tweede
3 drie 
drie  3rd drede
4 vier   4th vierde
5 vijf   5th vijfde
6 zes 
zes  6th zesde
7 zeven 
zeven  7th zevende
8 acht 
acht  8th achtste
9 negen 
negen  9th negende
10 tien 
tien  10th tiende
11 elf   11th elfde
12 twaalf   12th twaalfde
13 dertien 
dertien  13th dertiende
14 veertien 
veertien  14th veertiende
15 vijftien 
vijftien  15th vijftiende
16 zestien 
zestien  16th zestiende
17 zeventien 
zeventien  17th zeventiende
18 achttien 
achttien  18th achttiende
19 negentien 
negentien  19th negentiende
20 twintig 
twintig  20th twintigste
21 eenentwintig 
eenentwintig  21st eenentwintigste
22 tweeëntwintig 
tweeëntwintig  22nd tweeëntwintigste
23 drieëntwintig 
drieëntwintig  23rd drieentwintigste
30 dertig 
dertig  30th dertigste
40 veertig 
veertig  40th veertigste
50 vijftig 
vijftig  50th vijftigste
60 zestig 
zestig  60th zestigste
70 zeventig 
zeventig  70th zeventigste
80 tachtig 
tachtig  80th tachtigste
90 negentig 
negentig  90th negentigste
100 honderd 
honderd  100th honderdste
101 honderd en een 
een  101st honderd en eerste
110 honderd tien 
tien  110th honderd tiende
200 tweehonderd 
tweehonderd  200th tweehonderdste
1,000 duizend 
duizend  1,000th duizendste
1,001 duizend en een 
een  1,001st duizend en eerste
million een miljoen 
miljoen  millionth miljoenste
billion een miljard 
miljard  billionth miljardste

de helft half een keer once

een derde one third twee keer twice
een kwart one quarter drie keer three times
 In the word for twenty-two,
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

Monday maandag
Tuesday dinsdag
Wednesday woensdag
Thursday donderdag
Friday vrijdag
Saturday zaterdag
Sunday zondag
day dag
morning ochtend
afternoon middag
evening avond
night nacht
today vandaag
tomorrow morgen
tonight deze nacht
yesterday gisteren
last night (de) afgelopen nacht
day after tomorrow overmorgen
day before yesterday eergisteren
week week
last week afgelopen week
weekend weekend
daily dagelijks
weekly wekelijks

12. MONTHS OF THE YEAR

January  januari
February februari
March maart
  April april
May mei
June  juni
July  juli
 August augustus
September september 
October oktober 
November november 
December december 
month maand
year  jaar 
last year het afgelopen jaar 
monthly maandelijks
yearly  jaarlijks

13. SEASONS
Winter de winter 
Spring de lente / het voorjaar 
Summer de zomer 
 Autumn de herfst / het najaar 

14. DIRECTIONS
Compass/Wind  Location/Movement 
North noord noorden 
noorden  right rechts
South zuid zuiden 
zuiden  left links
East oost oosten 
oosten  straight rechtdoor 
West west westen

15. COLORS & SHAPES

orange oranje 
oranje  square vierkant
pink roze 
roze  circle cirkel
purple paars 
paars  triangle driehoek
blue blauw 
blauw  rectangle rechthoek
yellow geel 
geel  oval ovaal
red rood 
rood  box vak
black zwart 
zwart  sphere bol
brown bruin 
bruin  cube kubus
gray grijs 
grijs  pyramid piramide
white wit 
wit  cone kegel
green groen 
groen  cylinder cilinder 
silver zilver   heart hart
gold goud 
goud  star ster 
beige beige 
beige  diamond diamant
light licht 
licht  crescent halvemaan
dark donker 
Licht and
Licht and donker  are
 are added to the colors to mean light and
dark: lichtbruin -
lichtbruin - light brown.

16. TIME
What time is it? Hoe laat is het?
It's 1:00 Het is een uur.
2:00 Het is twee uur.
3:30 Het is half vier.
5:45 Het is kwart voor zes.
7:03 Het is drie (minuten) over zeven.
at 9:30 om half tien
noon twaalf uur 's middags
twaalf uur 's nachts /
midnight
middernacht
In the morning 's ochtends
During the day 's middags
In the evening 's avonds
 At night 's nachts
Minuten can
Minuten can be omitted, just as in English.

17. WEATHER

How's the weather today? Wat voor weer is het vandaag?

It's cold Het is koud
beautiful Het is mooi
hot Het is heet
clear Het is helder 
icy Het is ijzig
warm Het is warm
windy Het is windig
 cloudy Het is bewolkt
hazy Het is mistig
muggy Het is drukkend / benauwd
humid Het is vochtig
foggy Het is mistig
It's snowing Het sneeuwt
It's raining Het regent
It's freezing Het vriest

18. FAMILY & PETS

family familie 
familie  sister-in-law schoonzuster 
parents ouders 
ouders  brother-in-law zwager 
mother moeder / mamma godmother meter 
father vader / papa godfather peetvader 
child / children kind / kinderen boy  jongen
son zoon 
zoon  girl meisje (n)
daughter dochter   child kind
brother broeder / broer  man, husband man
Sister zuster / zus woman, wife vrouw
grandparents grootouder  friend (m) vriend
grandfather grootvader / opa friend (f) vriendin
grandmother grootmoeder / oma 
oma  adult volwassene
grandchildren kleinkinderen 
kleinkinderen  relative bloedverwant
grandson kleinzoon 
kleinzoon  siblings broers en zusters
granddaughter kleindochter   twin tweeling
niece / cousin (f) nicht 
nicht  birth geboorte
nephew / cousin
neef   death dood
(m)
uncle oom 
oom  marriage huwelijk (n)
aunt tante 
tante  divorce echtscheiding
stepmother stiefmoeder
stepfather stiefvader   dog hond
stepdaughter stiefdochter   cat poes
stepson stiefzoon 
stiefzoon  bird vogel
stepsister stiefzuster   goldfish goudvis
stepbrother stiefbroeder   gerbil woestijnrat
mother-in-law schoonmoeder   hamster hamster 
father-in-law schoonvader   ferret fret
daughter-in-law schoondochter   horse paard
son-in-law schoonzoon 
schoonzoon  pony pony
In the vocabulary lists, (n) after the noun means that the
gender is neuter and the definite article is het (rather than
de.)

19. TO KNOW PEOPLE AND FACTS

kennen - to know people weten - to know facts

ken-
Present: ken ken kennen weet vayt  weten vay-tuh
nuh
ken- ken-
Past: kende kenden wist vist  wisten vist-uh
duh duh

20. FORMATION OF PLURAL NOUNS

Most plural nouns are formed by adding either
eit her -en or
-en or -s.
-s.
Remember that the definite article
art icle is always de before
de before plural
nouns.
1. -en (the
-en (the n is pronounced softly) is added to most nouns,
with a few spelling changes
boek - boeken book(s)
boeken book(s)
 jas - jassen coat(s)
jassen coat(s)
haar - haren hair(s)
haren hair(s)
huis - huizen house(s)
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
-s is added to nouns ending in the unstressed syllables -
el, -em, -en, and
-en, and -er  (and
 (and -aar(d), -erd, -ier when referring
to people), foreign words and to most nouns ending in an
unstressed vowel
tafel - tafels table(s)
tafels table(s)
 jongen - jongens boy(s)
jongens boy(s)
tante - tantes aunt(s)
tantes aunt(s)
bakker - bakkers baker(s)
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)
baden bath(s)
dag - dagen day(s)
dagen day(s)
spel - spelen game(s)
spelen game(s) (like the Olympics, smaller games are
spellen)
spellen)
glas - glazen glass(es)
glazen glass(es)
weg - wegen road(s)
wegen road(s)
4. A few neuter nouns take the ending -eren (or -deren if the
noun ends in -n)
blad - bladeren leaf
bladeren leaf (leaves)
kind - kinderen child(ren)
kinderen child(ren)
ei - eieren egg(s)
eieren egg(s)
been - beenderen bone(s)
beenderen bone(s) [Note: been - benen leg(s)]
benen leg(s)]
liederen song(s)
lied - liederen song(s)
volk - volkeren nation(s),
volkeren nation(s), people
5. Nouns ending in -heid have a plural in -heden.
mogelijkheden possibility (possibilities)
mogelijkheid - mogelijkheden possibility
6. Some other common irregular plurals are:
stad - steden town(s)
steden town(s)
schip - schepen ship(s)
schepen ship(s)
lid - leden member(s)
leden member(s)
koe - koeien cow(s)
koeien cow(s)

21. POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

Singular  Plural 
mijn (m'n) my ons / onze our
 jouw (je) your (informal)  jullie (je) your (informal)
uw your (formal) uw your (formal)
zijn (z'n) his
haar her hun 
hun  their
zijn (z'n) its
Ons is
Ons is used before singular neuter/het
neuter/ het nouns,
 nouns, and onze is
onze is
used elsewhere (before singular common/de
common/de nouns, nouns, and all
plural nouns.) Je,
Je, the unstressed form of jouw
of  jouw,, is commonly
used in spoken and written Dutch, unless the t he speaker/writer
wants to stress the pronoun. In the plural, jullie
plural, jullie is
 is the norm,
unless jullie has already been used in the
t he sentence, then je
then je
is used to avoid the redundancy.
redundancy. The other unstressed forms
are not commonly written in the standard language, but are
commonly spoken and written in informal communication.
Like in English, Dutch possessive adjectives are used in
front of a noun to show possession: mijn boek (my
boek (my book).
There are a few ways to express the -'s used in English too.
 -s can be added to proper names and members of the
family: Jans boek (John's
boek (John's book) The preposition van can
van can be
used to mean of: het boek van Jan (the book of John =
John's book) And in more colloquial speech, the unstressed
forms in parentheses above (agreeing in gender and
number) can be used in place of the -s: Jan z'n boek
(John's book)
To form the possessive pronouns, add -e to
-e to the stressed
forms (except for jullie) and use the correct article. The only
way to show possession with jullie is to use van jou (literally
jou (literally
meaning "of you"), although all the others can be used with
van too.
de/het mijne, jouwe, uwe, zijne, hare, onze, hunne (mine,
hunne (mine,
yours, yours, his/its, hers, ours, theirs)

22. TO DO AND TO MAKE

doen - to do maken - to make
doe doo doen doon maak mahk  maken mah-kuh
doet doot  doen doon maakt mahkt  maken mah-kuh
doet doot  doen doon maakt mahkt  maken mah-kuh
Expressions with doen:
doen alsof  -
 - to act as though
doen denken aan -
aan - to remind of
dichtdoen -
dichtdoen - to close
opendoen -
opendoen - to open
pijndoen - to hurt, cause pain

23. WORK
female (if different from
male
male)
actor acteur  actrice
actor (stage) toneelspeler  toneelspeelster 
author/writer schrijver  schrifster 
baker bakker  bakster 
bookkeeper boekhouder  boekhoudster 
bookseller boekhandelaar  boekhandelaarster 
butcher slager 
cashier kassajongen kassameisje
dentist tandarts
doctor dokter 
engineer ingenieur 
 hairdresser kapper  kapster 
 journalist  journalist  journaliste
 judge rechter 
lawyer advocaat
mail man postbode
mechanic monteur 
musician muzikant muzikante
nurse verpleger  verpleegster 
office worker kantoormedewerker  kantoormedewerkster 
officer officier 
painter schilder  schilderes
photographer fotograaf  fotografe
salesperson verkoper  verkoopster 
secretary secretaris secretaresse
singer zanger  zangeres
soldier soldaat
surgeon chirurg
teacher leraar  lerares

24. PREPOSITIONS
about over  in in, over (used with time)
above /
boven / over  in front of voor 
over
according
volgens inside / within binnen
to
after na in spite of ondanks
against tegen 
tegen  near bij
along langs next to naast
around rond(om) of van
at bij, om, aan on top of / on op / aan
because of vanwege 
vanwege  opposite tegenover 
before voor  out (of) uit
behind achter   since sinds, sedert
between tussen 
tussen  through door 
aan, naar(toe) (direction
by met, door  to
towards something)
during gedurende, tijdens 
tijdens  under onder 
except for behalve voor until tot, totdat
for voor   with met
from van, uit, vandaan 
vandaan  without zonder
 At  translates
 translates as bij when
bij when it's a personal location, such as ik
ben bij Jan (I'm
Jan (I'm at Johns place/I am with John). Om Om refers
 refers
to time: om 12 uur  (at
 (at noon); and aan refers
aan refers to an
impersonal location: aan tafel (at
tafel (at the table). By  is
 is met in
met in the
sense of ik doe het met de hand (I
hand (I do it by hand) or ik ga
met het vliegtuig (I
vliegtuig (I go by plane). From is
From is van when
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
Japan (I come from Japan.)
Vandaan indicates
Vandaan indicates from where,
where, as in waar kom jij vandaan
(where are you from?)

25. COUNTRIES AND NATIONALITIES

Country Nationality (masc. / fem.)
 Africa Afrika Afrikaan / Afrikaanse
 America Amerika Amerikaan / Amerikaanse
Amerikaanse
 Argentina Argentinië Argentijn / Argentijnse
 Asia Azië Aziaat
 Austria Oostenrijk Oostenrijker / Oostenrijkse
Belgium België Belg / Belgische
Brazil Brazili Braziliaan / Braziliaanse
China China Chinees / Chinese
Denmark Denemarken Deen / Deense
England Engeland Engelsman / Engelse
Europe Europa Europeaan
France Frankrijk Fransman / Française
Germany Duitsland Duitser / Duitse
Great Britain Groot Brittani Brit / Britse
Greece Griekenland Griek / Griekse
Holland Holland Hollander / Hollandse
Hungary Hongarije Hongaar / Hongaarse
India India Indir / Indische
Ireland Ierland Ier / Ierse
Italy Italië Italiaan / Italiaanse
Japan Japan Japanner / Japanse
Netherlands Nederland Nederlander / Nederlandse
Norway Noorwegen Noor / Noorse
Poland Polen Pool / Poolse
Portugal Portugal Portugees / Portugese
Russia Rusland Rus / Russin
Spain Spanje Spanjaard / Spaanse
Sweden Zweden Zweed / Zweedse
Switzerland Zwitserland Zwitser / Zwitserse
Turkey Turkije Turk / Turkse
United States Verenigde Staten Amerikaan / Amerikaanse
Amerikaanse
The feminine form of many occupations and nationalities is
indicated by one of five endings. For most nationalities, -e is
-e is
added, as in Nederlandse
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.
boer - boerin (farmer - female student - studente (male
studente (male student -
farmer/farmer's wife) female student)
leeuw - leeuwin (lion
leeuwin (lion - lioness) secretaris - secretaresse (male
secretaresse (male
koning - koningin (king
koningin (king - queen) secretary - female secretary)
Rus - Russin (Russian
Russin (Russian man - bibliothekaris - bibliothekaresse (male
bibliothekaresse (male
Russian woman) librarian - female librarian)
leraar - lerares (male
lerares (male teacher - schrijfer - scrijfster  (write
 (write - female
female teacher) author)
prins - prinses (prince
prinses (prince - verpleeger - verpleegster  (nurse
 (nurse -
princess) female nurse)

26. NEGATIVE SENTENCES

The word niet (not)
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),
buiten (outside), beneden
(downstairs), boven (upstairs)
boven (upstairs) and thuis (at
thuis (at home).
Een is usually not preceded by niet or any phrase ending
with niet (ook
(ook niet - not either, nog niet -
niet - not yet). Instead,
geen,
geen, ook geen and nog geen replace
geen replace the article. Geen is
Geen is
translated by not a, not any  or
 or no when
no when followed by a noun in
English. Geen also negates nouns that cannot be counted,
such as water, bier and wijn.
wijn.
Jan leest niet. Jan
niet. Jan does not read.
Hij werkt volgende week ook niet. He
niet. He is not working next
week either.
Ik wil geen kopje koffie.
koffie. I don't want a cup of coffee.
Zij hebben nog geen huis gevonden. They
gevonden. They have not found
a house yet.
 27.TO COME AND TO GO
komen - to come gaan - to go
koh-
kom kawm komen ga gah gaan gahn
muh
koh-
komt kawmt  komen gaat gaht  gaan gahn
muh
koh-
komt kawmt  komen gaat gaht  gaan gahn
muh
Expressions with komen and gaan:
Hoe komt het dat.. ? How
? How is it that.. ?
Hoe gaat het met u? How
u? How are you?
Het gaat goed met me. I
me. I am fine.
gaan zitten -
zitten - to sit down, be seated

28. TO AND FROM COUNTRIES AND CITIES

to naar
from uit
Ik kom uit Nederland. I
Nederland. I come from the Netherlands.
Zij gaat naar New York. She's
York. She's going to New York.

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):
Verb drinken - to
endings drink
- -en drink drinken
drinken
-t -en drinkt
drinkt drinken
drinken
-t -en drinkt
drinkt drinken
drinken
There is, however, an alternative present tense to express
an action that is currently happening: use zijn aan het with
het with
the infinitive. Ik ben aan het koken would
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
jaar. I have lived here for five years.
Hij werkt sinds april met zijn broer. He
broer. He has been working
with his brother since April.
 Graag is
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
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. Notice how the infinitive is still identical
to the plural conjugations for wij, jullie, and zij, and the stem
is identical to the ik form.
Stem & ik
Infinitive  jij, hij, etc. wij, jullie, etc.
form
betalen to pay betaal betaalt betalen
blijven to stay blijf blijft blijven
hopen to hope hoop hoopt hopen
raden to guess raad raadt raden
geloven to believe geloof gelooft geloven
schrijven to write schrijf schrijft schrijven
kiezen to choose kies kiest kiezen
haten to hate haat haat haten
leven to live leef leeft leven
lezen to read lees leest lezen
praten to talk praat praat praten
rijden to ride rijd rijdt rijden
wassen to wash was wast wassen
gaan to go ga gaat gaan
staan to stand sta staat staan
slaan to hit sla slaat slaan

One verb that does not follow the spelling rule is komen.
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
staan (to stand), slaan (to
slaan (to hit), doen (to
doen (to do) and zien (to
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 -
zitten - to sit; hij zit -
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 -
rijden - to ride; ik rij(d) -
rij(d) - I ride; rij(d) jij? -
jij? - do you ride?

31. MODAL VERBS

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

kunnen moeten mogen willen

ik kan moet mag wil
 jij / u kan / kunt moet mag wil / wilt
hij / zij / het kan moet mag wil
wij kunnen moeten mogen willen
 jullie kunnen moeten mogen willen
zij kunnen moeten mogen willen
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, so jij
so  jij kan and
kan and jij
 jij
kunt as
kunt as well as jij
as jij wil and
wil and jij
 jij wilt are
wilt are both possible. The
main difference is that kan and wil are considered slightly
more informal with jij than kunt or wilt.
Common verbs, such as doen and
doen and gaan,
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
kan. That's possible/can be done.
Het moet. It
moet. It must be done.
When modals are used with other verbs, the other verb is in
the infinitive and placed at the end of the clause or
sentence.

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
me ons
 je / u  je
zich zich
The reflexive pronoun u is often replaced by zich to avoid the
double occurrence of u.
Verbs that are always reflexive:
zich
afvragen
zich
bevinden
zich ergeren ask oneself
zich find oneself
gedragen get annoyed by
zich generen behave
zich haasten be
zich embarrassed
herinneren hurry
zich remember
herstellen recover
zich be ashamed of
schamen be mistaken
voor about
zich look forward to
vergissen in oversleep
zich imagine,
verheugen introduce
op oneself
zich
verslapen
zich
voorstellen

Verbs that can be reflexive or used with other direct objects

aankleden get dressed
amuseren enjoy oneself
bewegen move
ergeren make angry
opwinden get excited
scheren shave (oneself)
snijden cut oneself
uitkleden undress (oneself)
verbazen be amazed
verdedigen defend oneself
verkleden change clothes
 verontschuldigen excuse
verschuilen oneself/apologize
vervelen hide (oneself)
voelen to be bored
wassen feel
wash (oneself)
Emphatic Forms
mezelf onszelf
 jezelf  jezelf
zichzelf zichzelf
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
 is used when there is a reciprocal meaning of "each
other" in English.

33. VERBS FOLLOWED BY PREPOSITIONS

afhangen van depend on
bang zijn voor  be afraid of
deelnemen aan take part in
denken aan think of/about
feliciteren met congratulate on
gebrek hebben aan be short of
herinneren aan 
aan  remind
houden van like, love (things or people)
huilen om cry at/about
kijken naar  look at/watch
lachen om laugh at
letten op pay attention to
lijden aan suffer from
luisteren naar  listen to
praten/spreken met talk to
reageren op react to
rekenen op rely on
sterven aan die of
trek/zin hebben in 
in  want
trouwen met 
met  marry
twijfelen aan 
aan  doubt
vragen om ask for
 weten van know about
zeggen tegen say to
zorgen voor  care for

34. SEPARABLE PREFIXES

aan- af- binnen- in- na- onder- over- toe- voor-
achter- bij- door- mee- om- op- tegen- uit- -weg
When verbs with separable prefixes are conjugated, the
prefixes go to the end of the clause or sentence. For
example, uitgaan (to
uitgaan (to go out) and weggaan (to
weggaan (to go away):
Gaan jullie
Gaan jullie niet meer uit?
uit? Don't you go out anymore?
Hij gaat vandaag
gaat vandaag weg.
weg. He's going away today.

35. INSEPARABLE PREFIXES

be- ont- ge-
her- ver- er-
These prefixes always remain
always remain attached to their infinitives.
The inseparable prefixes are unstressed syllables, as
compared to the separable prefixes, of which most can stand
alone as prepositions. -ann, -onder, -over, -door, -voor and -
om can also be inseparable prefixes if they are unstressed.

36. PRESENT PERFECT OR PAST INDEFINITE TENSE

This tense is used more often than

t han the simple past,
especially in conversation, and is equivalent to I have asked
or  I
 I asked. Regular verbs use a form of hebben or zijn and a
past participle. Past participles are made by adding ge- to
ge- to
the beginning of the verb stem and -t or -d to
-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
-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
-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
ge after the prefix and
before the stem (af gemaakt).
gemaakt).
Verb Stem Past Participle
hopen to hope hoop gehoopt
 maken to make maak gemaakt
blaffen to bark blaf geblaft
missen to miss mis gemist
dromen to dream droom gedroomd
bellen to ring bel gebeld
loven to praise loof geloofd
vrezen to be afraid vrees gevreesd
praten to talk praat gepraat
koken to cook kook gekookt
blaffen to bark blaf geblaft
kuchen to cough kuch gekucht
bouwen to build bouw gebouwd
horen to hear hoor gehoord
branden to burn brand gebrand
bedoelen to mean bedoel bedoeld
bepraten to discuss bepraat bepraat
geloven to believe geloof geloofd
verhuizen to move house verhuis verhuisd
afmaken to finish af...maak afgemaakt
Hebben vs. Zijn
Some verbs of motion can take either
eit her 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;
gekund;
moeten: gemoeten;
gemoeten; mogen: gemoogd,
gemoogd, willen: gewild)
gewild) are
only used when the modal is used independently of another
verb.
Ik heb het gemoeten.
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.
komen. I was able to come
yesterday.

37. IRREGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES

P ARTICIPLES
Past Past
Infinitive Infinitive
Participle Participle
begin beginnen begonnen 
begonnen   walk lopen gelopen
must, have
understand begrijpen begrepen moeten gemoeten
to
offer bieden geboden 
geboden  may mogen gemogen
remain blijven gebleven 
gebleven  call roepen geroepen
break breken gebroken 
gebroken  write schrijven geschreven
bring brengen gebracht 
gebracht  sleep slapen geslapen
think denken gedacht 
gedacht  hit slaan geslagen
do doen gedaan 
gedaan  stand staan gestaan
drink drinken gedronken 
gedronken  speak spreken gesproken
eat eten gegeten 
gegeten  die sterven gestorven
go gaan gegaan 
gegaan  forget vergeten vergeten
give geven gegeven 
gegeven   lose verliezen verloren
have hebben gehad 
gehad  find vinden gevonden
help helpen geholpen 
geholpen  ask vragen gevraagd
be called heten geheten 
geheten  know weten geweten
hold houden gehouden 
gehouden   show wijzen gewezen
look kijken gekeken 
gekeken  want willen gewild
come komen gekomen 
gekomen  become worden geworden
buy kopen gekocht 
gekocht  say zeggen gezegd
get krijgen gekregen 
gekregen  see zien gezien
can, be able
kunnen gekund be zijn geweest
to
let laten gelaten 
gelaten  sing zingen gezongen
read lezen gelezen 
gelezen  sit zitten gezeten
lie liggen gelegen look for zoeken gezocht

38. ZIJN VERBS

 A few common verbs take zijn
zijn instead of hebben in the
present perfect tense:
to stop
to stay
blijven stoppen/ophouden to
to
blijken verdwijnen disappear
appear/seem
gaan verschijnen to appear
to go
gebeuren worden to
to happen
komen zijn become
to come
to be

39. FOOD AND MEALS

breakfast ontbijt (n) 
(n)  bread brood (n)
middagmaal (n),
lunch pepper peper 
lunch
dinner avondeten (n) 
(n)  salt zout (n)
glass glas (n) 
(n)  ice ijs
fork vork 
vork  vinegar azijn
spoon lepel 
lepel  oil olie
knife mes (n) 
(n)  sugar suiker 
napkin servet (n) 
(n)  butter boter 
plate bord (n) 
(n)  table tafel
silverware bestek (n) 
(n)  dish schotel
tea thee 
thee  juice sap
steak biefstuk 
biefstuk  water water 
cake taart / cake / koek 
koek  wine wijn
ice cream roomijs (n) 
(n)  beer bier (n)
coffee koffie 
koffie  beverage drank
pie vlaai 
vlaai  milk melk
mustard mosterd 
mosterd  egg ei (n)
rice rijst 
rijst  honey honing
 jam  jam 
 jam  snack snack, tussendoortje
soup soep 
soep  cheese kaas
salad salade 
salade  cookies koekje

40. FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND MEATS

ME ATS

fruit vrucht 
vrucht   cabbage kool

pineapple ananas 
ananas  pumpkin pompoen

apple appel 
appel  olive olijf 

apricot abrikoos 
abrikoos  radish radijs
banana banaan 
banaan  lettuce sla
pear peer   tomato tomaat
strawberry aardbei 
aardbei  onion ui
raspberry framboos 
framboos  meat vlees (n)
cherry kers 
kers  veal kalfsvlees (n)
lime limoen 
limoen  lamb lam (n)
lemon citroen 
citroen  beef rundvlees (n)
orange sinaasappel 
sinaasappel  ham ham
peach perzik 
perzik  pork varkensvlees (n)
grapes druif   bacon bacon
vegetables groente 
groente  sausage worst
cauliflower bloemkool 
bloemkool  poultry pluimvee (n)
bean boon 
boon  duck eend
pea erwt 
erwt  goose gans
cucumber komkommer   chicken kip
carrot wortel, peen 
peen  turkey kalkoen
potato aardappel 
aardappel  fish vis

The National Anthem of the Netherlands: Wilhelmus van

Nassouwe
By Marnix van St. Aldegonde (2 stanzas out of 15)
Wilhelmus van Nassouwe ben ik van Duitsen bloed
den vaderland getrouwe blijf ik tot in den dood.
Een Prinse van Oranje ben ik, vrij onverveerd,
den Koning van Hispanje heb ik altijd geëerd.
Mijn schild ende betrouwen zijt Gij, o God mijn Heer,
op U zo wil ik bouwen, verlaat mij nimmermeer.
Dat ik doch vroom mag blijven, uw dienaar t'aller stond,
de tirannie verdrijven die mij mijn hert doorwondt.
William of Nassau am I, of Dutch blood;
True to the fatherland I remain until death.
Prince of Orange am I, free and fearless.
To the King of Spain I have always given honour.
You, my God and Lord, are my shield, on You I rely.
On You I will build; never leave me,
So that I may remain pious, your servant at all moments,
Dispelling the tyranny that wounds my heart.
The National Anthem of Belgium: De Brabançonne
By Alexandre Dechet, 1830 
O dierbaar België
O heilig land der vaad'ren
Onze ziel en ons hart zijn u gewijd.
 Aanvaard ons hart en het bloed van onze adren,
Wees ons doel in arbeid en in strijd.
Bloei, o land, in eendracht niet te breken;
Wees immer u zelf en ongeknecht,
Het woord getrouw, dat ge onbevreesd moogt spreken:
Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht. (x3)
O beloved Belgium,
sacred land of our fathers,
Our heart and soul are dedicated to you.
Our strength and the blood of our veins we offer,
Be our goal, in work and battle.
Prosper, O country, in unbreakable unity,
 Always be yourself and
and free.
Trust in the word that, undaunted, you can speak:
For King, for Freedom and for Law. (x3)
41. WORD ORDER
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
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
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 i s used,
especially on signs.
Kijk! Look!
Kijk! Look!
Laat mij het doen! Let
doen! Let me do it!
Blijft u zitten. Please
zitten. Please remain seated.
Kijk uit! Look
uit! Look out!
Laten we gaan. Let's
gaan. Let's go.
Niet roken. No
roken. No smoking.
Trekken / Duwen. Pull
Duwen. Pull / Push.
Note that zijn has an irregular imperative form: wees (and
wees (and
the polite form: weest u)
u)

43. COORDINATING AND SUBORDINATING

CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating conjunctions join two sentences together. Word
order is not affected by coordinating conjunctions. Examples
are en (and),
en (and), dus (so,
dus (so, thus), maar (but), of  (or)
 (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)
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
toen hij klein was.
was. My son was sick
when he was little.
Ik weet dat jij
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
Hoewel hij jong is,
is, is hij
is hij erg rijk. Although he is young, he is
very rich.
Zodra ik
Zodra ik klaar ben,
ben, kom ik
kom ik even langs. As soon as I'm ready,
I'll come over.
Subordinating Conjunctions
if/when als unless
tenzij
as if alsof while
terwijl
except that behalve dat when (in
toen
that dat past)
tot(dat)
although hoewel until
wanneer
to the extent inzover(re) when
voor(dat)
that dat before
zoals
now nu(dat)  just
zodat
whether of so that
zolang
because omdat as long as
zonder dat
after na(dat) without
zover
since sinds as far as

44. HOLIDAY PHRASES

Gelukkig nieuwjaar
Happy New Year
Zalig pasen / Vrolijk Pasen
Happy Easter
Zalig kerstfeest
Merry Christmas
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd (met je
Happy Birthday
verjaardag)
Zalig is the word traditionally used by Catholics (the Pope
uses it) when saying something in Dutch at Christmas.
Protestants say Prettige kerstdagen (nice),
kerstdagen (nice), Gelukkig
kerstfeest (happy),
kerstfeest (happy), or Vrolijk kerstfeest (cheerful);
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
zitten! Please remain seated!
Laten (to
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
gaan. Let's go home.
Zij laat haar kamer verven. She's
verven. She's having her room painted.
Hij heeft zijn auto laten wassen. He's
wassen. He's had his car washed.

46. PLACES
airport luchthaven lane (town) steeg
bakery bakkerij 
bakkerij  library bibliotheek
bank bank 
bank  market markt
barn schuur   monument gedenkteken (n)
barracks kazerne  
kazerne  museum museum
bridge brug 
brug  palace paleis
bookstore boekwinkel 
boekwinkel  path pad (n)
building gebouw (n) 
(n)  pavement trottoir (n)
castle slot (n) 
(n)  pharmacy apotheek
cathedral kathedraal police station politiebureau (n)
cemetery kerkhof (n) 
(n)  port haven
church kerk 
kerk  prison gevangenis
cinema bioscoop 
bioscoop  restaurant restaurant
road
consulate consulaat (n) landweg
(highway)
corner straathoek 
straathoek  school school
drugstore apotheek 
apotheek  square plein (n)
embassy ambassade 
ambassade  stadium stadium
factory fabriek 
fabriek  store winkel
farm boerderij 
boerderij  street straat
fountain fontein 
fontein  suburb voorstad
theater /
garage garage 
garage  theater
schouwburg
ziekenhuis
hospital tower toren
(n)
hotel hotel 
hotel  town stad
 house huis (n) town hall stadhuis (n)
hut hut 
hut  university universiteit
inn herberg 
herberg  village dorp

47. TRANSPORTATION
TRANSPORTATION
bus (auto)bus
train trein
airplane vliegtuig
ship schip
boat boot
motorcycle motorfiets
automobile automobiel
streetcar tram
moped bromfiets
bicycle fiets
car auto(mobiel)

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.
ik, jij, u, hij, zij  wij, jullie, zij 
wonen - to live woonde woonden
geloven - to believe geloofde geloofden
praten - to talk praatte praatten
spelen - to play speelde speelden
trouwen - to marry trouwde trouwden
werken - to work werkte werkten
fietsen - to cycle fietste fietsten
 49. IRREGULAR
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.
ik, jij, u, hij, zij  wij, jullie, zij 
zijn - to be was waren
hebben - to have had hadden
gaan - to go ging gingen
weten - to know wist wisten
denken - to think dacht dachten
blijven - to stay bleef  bleven
drinken - to drink dronk dronken
eten - to eat at aten
breken - to break brak braken
bijten - to bite beet beten
gieten - to pour goot goten

50. HOUSE AND FURNITURE

alarm schilderij
wekker   desk bureau 
bureau  painting
clock (n)
armchair leunstoel 
leunstoel  door deur   pillow kussen (n)
pipe
ashtray asbak (n) 
(n)  drawer lade pijpleiding
(water)
balcony balkon (n) 
(n)  dresser ladenkast 
ladenkast  radio radio
basement kelder   fire vuur (n) 
(n)  refrigerator koelkast
basket korf   flame vlam 
vlam  roof dak (n)
badkamer flat
bathroom apartement 
apartement  room kamer 
(n) (apartment)
bed bed (n) 
(n)  floor vloer   sheet laken (n)
bedroom slaapkamer   flower bloem 
bloem  shovel schop
(door)bell (deur)bel 
(deur)bel  furniture meubelen (pl.) 
(pl.)  shower douche
blanket deken 
deken  garden tuin 
tuin  smoke rook
rolgordijn ground
blinds benedenverdieping 
benedenverdieping  sofa (zit)bank
(n) floor
box kist 
kist  hearth haard 
haard  stairs trap
floor (of
broom bezem 
bezem  house huis (n) verdieping
building)
bucket emmer  iron (flat) strijkijzer (n) 
(n)  stove kachel
candle kaars 
kaars  kerosene petroleum 
petroleum  table tafel
tap
carpet tapijt (n) 
(n)  key sleutel kraan
(faucet)
ceiling plafond (n) 
(n)  kitchen keuken 
keuken  television televisie
chair stoel 
stoel  ladder ladder  toilet (WC) wc / toilet
chimney schoorsteen 
schoorsteen  lamp lamp 
lamp  towel handdoek
vacuum
closet kast 
kast  lock slot (n) stofzuiger 
cleaner
computer computer   mattress matras 
matras  vase vaas
wall
corner hoek 
hoek  mirror spiegel muur 
(house)
wall
cupboard kast 
kast  oven oven wand
(room)
curtain gordijn (n) 
(n)  pantry provisiekast 
provisiekast  window raam (n)
paper
cushion kussen (n) prullenmand 
prullenmand  yard (achter)tuin
basket

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
staan is used.
When an object is lying down, liggen is
liggen is used. When an
object is inside of something else, zitten is
zitten is used.
De auto staat voor het huis. The
huis.  The car is in front of the
t he
house.
De krant ligt op de grond. The
grond. The newspaper is on the floor.
De pen zit in de tas. The
tas. The pen is in the bag.

52. CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES

pants
belt riem broek
(trousers)
boot laars 
laars  pin speld
braces bretels (pl.) 
(pl.)  pipe pijp
brush borstel 
borstel  pocket zak
button knoop 
knoop  shirt overhemd (n)
cigar sigaar   shoe schoen
cigarette sigaret 
sigaret  shoelace schoenveter 
clothes kleren 
kleren  silk zijde
coat  jas 
 jas  skirt rok
collar boord 
boord  sleeve mouw
comb kam 
kam  soap zeep
cotton katoen (n) 
(n)  sock sok
dress  jurk 
 jurk  stick stok
fashion mode 
mode  stocking kous
glasses bril (sing.) 
(sing.)  tie stropdas
glove handschoen 
handschoen  toothbrush tandenborstel
handkerchief zakdoek 
zakdoek  toothpaste tandpasta
hat hoed 
hoed  umbrella paraplu
 jeans spijkerbroek 
spijkerbroek  underwear onderbroek
match lucifer   waistcoat vest (n)
needle naald 
naald  watch horloge (n)
overcoat overjas 
overjas  wool wol

53. FUTURE TENSE

The future tense consists of a conjugated form of zullen and
zullen and
an infinitive placed at the end of the sentence. Except for the
word order, this is similar to English will + an infinitive. The
future tense can also be used to express probability. When it
does, wel is
wel is added to the sentence.
ik zal wij zullen
 jij, u zult / zal  jullie zullen
hij, zij het zal zij zullen
Like the modals, either zult or zal can be used with jij and u.
Both are considered correct.
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
f uture event
with the use of time expressions. This is common in English
too.
Morgen gaan zij naar Rotterdam. They're
Rotterdam. They're going to
Rotterdam tomorrow.
Gaan and an infinitive at the end of the sentence can also be
Gaan and
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.
Future Perfect Tense
The future perfect expresses "will have + past participle" and
is as uncommon in Dutch as it is in English. Zullen is still
used at the conjugated verb, but the past participle and
infinitive of hebben (or zijn) are put at the end of t he
sentence.
Hij zal de krant gelezen hebben. He
hebben.  He will have read the
newspaper.

54. VERB MEANINGS

Some verbs in English are expressed in D utch as two
different verbs and vice versa. The most common are:
kennen: to
kennen: to know a person or a place; to be acquainted with
(general familiarity)
weten: to
weten: to know facts (specific knowledge)
leven: to
leven:  to be alive, to exist, to subsist
wonen: to
wonen: to reside, to dwell
betekenen: to
betekenen: to signify
bedoelen: to
bedoelen: to intend
noemen: to
noemen: to call, name
heten: to
heten: to be called, be named
lenen aan: to
aan: to lend to
lenen van: to
van: to borrow from
leren: to
leren: to teach (someone something)
leren (van): to
(van): to learn (from someone)

55. INFLECTIONS OF ADJECTIVES

When adjectives are placed before nouns, and not after,
they add the ending -e.-e. The spelling rules that affect
pluralization of nouns and verb conjugations also apply when
inflecting adjectives. However, the -e is not added when the
adjective occurs before a neuter singular noun without an
article (warm water) or a neuter singular noun preceded by
een, geen, elk  (each), ieder   (each),
 (each), m e n i g (many a), veel 
(much), w e l k  
 (which) or
 (which) or zo'n  (such
 (such a).
a). Adjectives that end in
-en, as well as the adjectives linker (left) and rechter (right),
do not add -e either.
het grote huis -
huis - the large house
de lange muur  - - the long wall
mijn mooie tuin - my beautiful garden
snelle treinen -
treinen - fast trains
een oud huis -
huis - an old house
vers brood -
brood - fresh bread
de houten trap -
trap - the wooden staircase
oog - his right eye
zijn rechter oog -
When an adjective is placed directly after  iets
 iets (something),
niet (nothing),
niet (nothing), veel (much), weinig (little),
weinig (little), and wat
(something),
(something), it adds the ending -s.
-s.
iets moois -
moois - something beautiful
niets nieuws -
nieuws - nothing new
 If the noun following the adjective has been mentioned
before, it may be omitted. In English, "one" is used in its
place, but there is no equivalent word in Dutch. Dutch simply
uses the article and adjective, with the -e inflection, if it is
required.
Koop je een jurk? Ja, ik neem de blauwe. Are
blauwe. Are you buying
a dress? Yes, I'll take the blue (one.)

56. ADJECTIVES

short kort 
kort  high hoog 
hoog  light licht
long, tall lang 
lang  wide wijd 
wijd  dark donker 
loud luid fat, thick vet, dik 
dik  terrible vreselijk
quiet stil 
stil  thin dun 
dun  sweet zoet
cute lief, schattig 
schattig  narrow nauw in love verliefd
perfect perfekt 
perfekt  weak zwak 
zwak  serious serieus
triest,
sad strong sterk 
sterk  clean proper, net
droevig
happy blij, gelukkig 
gelukkig  deep diep 
diep  dirty vuil
dear beste 
beste  lazy lui 
lui  shy verlegen
bekend, nerveus,
famous cheap goedkoop 
goedkoop  nervous
beroemd zenuwachtig
verschillend,
different dumb dom 
dom  comfortable comfortabel
ander 
easy gemakkelijk 
gemakkelijk  early vroeg 
vroeg  worried bezorgd
nabij,
difficult moeilijk 
moeilijk  near right  juist
dichtbij
pretty mooi 
mooi  nice mooi, aardig 
aardig  wrong verkeerd
ugly lelijk 
lelijk  inexpensive goedkoop 
goedkoop  jealous  jaloers
small klein 
klein  expensive duur   drunk dronken, zat
large groot 
groot  crazy gek 
gek  popular populair 
good goed 
goed  far ver(af) 
ver(af)  excellent excellent
bad slecht 
slecht  beautiful mooi 
mooi  valuable kostbaar 
new nieuw 
nieuw  curious nieuwsgierig 
nieuwsgierig  alone alleen
vermoeid,
tired old oud 
oud  important belangrijk
moe
angry kwaad, boos 
boos  young  jong 
 jong  busy bezig, bezet
vervelend, ziek,
annoying interesting interessant 
interessant  sick
irritant misselijk
wonderful wonderlijk 
wonderlijk  fantastic fantastisch 
fantastisch  ready klaar 
57. COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE
Comparisons of equality use the expression even +
adjective + als and
als and it translates to "as + adjective + as." In
addition, you can use net zo + adjective + als to
als to mean "as
+ adjective + as," but it is more emphatic.
dit hotel is even duur als de andere -
andere - this hotel is as
expensive as the others
But note: zo veel mogelijk -
mogelijk - as soon as possible / zo vlug
mogelijk -
mogelijk - as fast as possible
When comparing two things, the comparative form of the
adjective is used. It is formed in Dutch by adding -er  to
 to the
adjective (or -der if the adjective ends in -r). This is used for
all adjectives; there is no "more + adjective" construction as
there is for some adjectives in English. Comparative
adjectives add the -e ending for the inflection according to
the requirements above; however, adjectives with three or
more syllables do not. When
W hen using comparative adjectives,
dan translates
dan translates as "than."
leuk -
leuk - nice
leuker  -
 - nicer
vriendelijk - friendly
vriendelijk -
vriendelijker  -
 - friendlier
When expressing the highest degree of a quality or
characteristic, the superlative form of the t he adjective is used.
Most adjectives add -st (or
-st (or just -t if the adjective already
ends in -s). Since the -st ending does not add a syllable to
the adjective, the spelling rules do not apply. All superlatives
are inflected like regular adjectives. However, if the
superlative adjective is a predicate adjective (follows "to be"
and does not precede a noun), then het precedes it and the -
e is optional. With the superlative, van translates as "in" or
"of." In contrast to English, Dutch does use the superlative to
compare two or more things.
leuk - nice
- nice
leukst - nicest
huis - the biggest
het grootste huis - bi ggest house
de duurste kleren -
kleren - the most expensive clothes
Hij is de oudste van de twee.
twee. He is the older (literally:
oldest) of the two.
For ease of pronunciation, adjectives ending in -st and -sch
do not add -st to form the superlative, but use meest (most)
meest (most)
before.
meest juist -
juist - most just
meest logisch -
logisch - most logical
Don't forget the spelling changes when dealing with long and
short vowels:
 groot, groter, grootst -
grootst - big, bigger, biggest
laat, later, laatst -
laatst - late, later, latest
Some of the most common adjectives have irregular forms:
adjective good goed 
goed  bad erg 
erg  much veel 
veel  little weinig
comparative better beter   worse erger   more meer   less minder 
superlative best best 
best  worst ergst 
ergst  most meest 
meest  least minst

58. SPORTS
golf golf 
soccer voetbal
volleyball volleybal
football rugby, American football
basketball basketbal
baseball honkbal
hockey hockey
tennis tennis
bowling bowlen, bowling
sailing zeilen
horseback riding paardrijden
boxing boksen
roller-skating rolschaatsen
ice-skating schaatsen
skiing skien
bicycle racing wielrennen
riding a bicycle fietsen
swimming zwemmen

59. NATURE
air lucht 
lucht  grass gras (n) 
(n)  rock rots
bank oever   hail hagel 
hagel  sand zand (n)
bay baai 
baai  hay hooi (n) 
(n)  sea zee
beach strand (n) 
(n)  heath heide 
heide  shadow schaduw
bridge brug high tide vloed 
vloed  sky lucht
bush struik 
struik  hill heuvel 
heuvel   snow sneeuw
spring
cave grot 
grot  ice ijs (n) bron
(water)
city stad 
stad  island eiland (n) 
(n)  star ster 
cloud wolk 
wolk  lake meer (n) 
(n)  storm storm
coast kust 
kust  leaf blad 
blad  stream beek
country land (n) 
(n)  light licht (n) 
(n)  street straat
platteland
country(side) lightning bliksem 
bliksem  sun zon
(n)
current stroom low tide eb 
eb  thaw (ont)dooi
darkness duisternis 
duisternis  meadow weide 
weide  thunder donder 
desert woestijn 
woestijn  moon maan 
maan  tree boom
dew dauw 
dauw  mountain berg 
berg  valley vallei
dust stof (n) 
(n)  mud modder   view uitzicht (n)
earth aarde 
aarde  nature natuur   water water (n)
schiereiland zoet water
farm boerderij 
boerderij  peninsula fresh water
(n) (n)
zout water
field veld (n) 
(n)  plain vlakte salt water
(n)
flower bloem 
bloem  plant plant 
plant  waterfall waterval
foam schuim (n) 
(n)  pond vijver   wave golf 
fog mist 
mist  rain regen 
regen  weather weer (n)
forest (n) 
bos (n)  rainbow regenboog 
regenboog  wind wind
frost vorst 
vorst  river rivier   world wereld

60. OBJECT PRONOUNS

Subject Objects
I ik ('k) me mij (me)
you (fam.)  jij (je) 
(je)  you  jou (je)
you (form.) u  you u
he hij 
hij  him hem ('m)
she zij (ze) 
(ze)  her haar (ze)
it hij / het it het ('t)
we wij (we) us ons
you (pl.)  jullie 
 jullie  you  jullie (je)
you (form.) u  you u
they zij (ze) 
(ze)  them hen (ze) / hun (ze)
Direct and indirect object pronouns are the same in Dutch,
except for "them." Hen is used if it is a direct object, and hun
is used if it is an indirect object. Generally, indirect objects
are preceded by "to" or "from" in English, and direct objects
are not preceded by any prepositions. Additionally, these
object pronouns are used in prepositional phrases.
 An alternative way of showing
showing possession without using the
possessive pronouns is to use van +
van + object pronoun. In fact,
 this is the only way to show possession with the jullie form,
as there is no possessive pronoun for it. This construction
corresponds to "of + object" and occurs often in sentences
with the verb "to be." Is deze pen van jou? Is
jou? Is this your pen?
Die schoenen zijn niet van mij. Those shoes are not mine.
If the noun is not present in the clause, then die or dat + van
+ object pronoun is used. Mijn huis is klein; dat van hem
is erg groot. My
groot. My house is small; his is very large.
61. PARTS OF THE BODY
ankle enkel 
enkel  finger vinger   nail nagel
arm arm 
arm  flesh vlees (n) 
(n)  neck hals / nek
back rug 
rug  foot voet 
voet  nerve zenuw
beard baard 
baard  forehead voorhoofd (n) 
(n)  pain pijn
belly buik 
buik  gum tandvlees (n) 
(n)  nose neus
bladder blaas 
blaas  hair (n) 
haar (n)  palm handpalm
blood bloed (n) 
(n)  hand hand 
hand  rib rib
body lichaam (n) 
(n)  head hoofd (n) 
(n)  shin scheen
bone bot / been (n) 
(n)  headache hoofdpijn 
hoofdpijn  shoulder schouder 
hersenen skelet /
brain health gezondheid 
gezondheid  skeleton
(pl.) geraamte
breath adem 
adem  heart hart (n) 
(n)  skin huid
calf kuit 
kuit  heel hiel 
hiel  skull schedel
cheek wang 
wang  hip heup 
heup  sole voetzool
ingewanden
chest borst 
borst  intestines spine ruggengraat
(pl.)
chin kin 
kin  jaw kaak 
kaak  stomach maag
cold verkoudheid 
verkoudheid  kidney nier   tear traan
cough hoest 
hoest  knee knie 
knie  thigh dij
ear oor (n) 
(n)  leg been (n) 
(n)  throat keel
elbow elleboog 
elleboog  lip lip 
lip  thumb duim
eye oog (n) 
(n)  liver lever   toe teen
eyebrow wenkbrauw 
wenkbrauw  lung long 
long  tongue tong
eyelid ooglid (n) 
(n)  moustache snor   tooth tand
face gezicht (n) 
(n)  mouth mond 
mond  wound wond
fever koorts 
koorts  muscle spier   wrist pols

62. RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Relative clauses begin with relative pronouns - words that
correspond to who, whom, that  and
 and which in
which in English. These
may be omitted in English, but must be included in Dutch.
The relative pronoun is put into the correct gender
depending on the noun it refers to. The conjugated verb
goes to the end of the sentence as well as with subordinate
clauses. Die and
Die and dat are
dat are the relative pronouns in Dutch; die
refers to people, singular common nouns and all plural
nouns, whereas dat refers
dat refers to singular neuter nouns.
Kent u de man die daar op de hoek staat? Do
staat? Do you know
the man who is standing there on the corner?
Dat is het boek dat ik las. That
las. That is the book (that) I read.
Hier is de jurk die ik gisteren gekocht heb. Here
heb. Here is the
dress (which) I bought yesterday.
Die is
Die is replaced by wie when
wie when the clause refers to people and
is preceded by a preposition. In addition, whoever  is
 is
translated as wie.
wie.
De jongen met wie ik praatte heet Piet. The
Piet. The boy with
whom I spoke is called Peter.
No relative pronoun is used when the clause refers to things
and is preceded by a preposition. In this case, waar- and the
preposition are used instead. In some cases, waar- and
waar- and a
preposition can also replace the relative pronoun when
referring to people.
Dat zijn mensen waarop je rekenen kunt. They are people
upon whom you can count. (They are people you can count
on.)
Wat replaces dat when
dat when the pronoun refers to the words
alles (everything), iets (something), niets (nothing);
niets (nothing); to the
superlative form of an adjective used as a noun; to the whole
preceding clause. It is also used when there is no
antecedent (no preceding noun/pronoun to refer to.)
Dat is alles wat ik heb. That
heb. That is everything that I have.
Zij komt altijd te laat, wat mij ergert. She
ergert. She always comes
late, which annoys me.

63. USES OF ER
1. Personal pronouns are used after prepositions when
referring to people. However, when you need to refer to a
thing, a compound using er- plus the preposition (either
written as one word, or separated by adverbial expression) is
used. Daar  (that)
 (that) and hier  (this)
 (this) can also replace er when it
is not written as one word.
mee. The children often play
De kinderen spelen er vaak mee. The
with it.
De kinderen spelen daar/hier vaak mee. The
mee.  The children
often play with that/this.
2. Er is used when talking about a quantity or an amount. It
is translated as "of it" or "of them," though these expressions
are not always used in English.
 Ik heb er genoeg gehad. I've
gehad. I've had enough (of it.)
Hoeveel poesjes heb je? Ik heb er twee. How
twee. How many kittens
do you have? I have two (of them.)
3. In an unstressed position, er means there (an adverb of
place). It is replaced by daar  in
 in stressed positions (such as
the beginning of a sentence.)
4. Er can introduce
intr oduce sentences with an indefinite subject. In
this case, er functions as there as
there as a subject, as in "there
is/are."

64. ANIMALS
animal dier (n) 
(n)  horse paard (n)
ant mier   insect insekt
badger das 
das  kitten katje / poesje (n)
bat vleermuis 
vleermuis  lamb lam (n)
beak bek 
bek  lion leeuw
bear beer   lobster kreeft
bee bij 
bij  louse luis
beetle tor   mackerel makreel
bird vogel 
vogel  mole mol
blackbird merel 
merel  monkey aap
bull stier   mosquito muskiet
butterfly vlinder   moth mot
calf kalf (n) 
(n)  mouse muis
carp karper   octopus octopus
cat kat / poes 
poes  ostrich struisvogel
caterpillar rups 
rups  owl uil
chicken kip ox os
chimpanzee chimpansee 
chimpansee  oyster oester 
claw klauw 
klauw  parrot papegaai
cockroach kakkerlak 
kakkerlak  partridge patrijs
cod kabeljauw 
kabeljauw  paw poot
cow koe 
koe  pig varken
crab krab 
krab  pigeon duif 
crayfish rivierkreeft 
rivierkreeft  rabbit konijn (n)
crow kraai 
kraai  rat rat
deer hert 
hert  rooster haan
dog hond 
hond  salmon zalm
donkey ezel 
ezel  scale schub
duck eend (sea) gull (zee)meeuw
eagle arend 
arend  seal zeehond
eel aal 
aal  shark haai
elephant olifant 
olifant  sheep schaap (n)
feather veer   shrimp garnaal
fin vin 
vin  snail slak
fish vis 
vis  snake slang
flea vlo 
vlo  sparrow mus
fly vlieg 
vlieg  spider spin
fox vos 
vos  squirrel eekhoorn
frog kikker   stork ooievaar 
fur vacht / pels 
pels  swallow zwaluw
gill kieuw 
kieuw  tail staart
giraffe giraffe 
giraffe  tiger tijger 
goat geit 
geit  toad pad
goose gans 
gans  trout forel
gorilla gorilla 
gorilla  turkey kalkoen
grasshopper sprinkhaan 
sprinkhaan  wasp wesp
hare haas 
haas  weasel wezel
hen kip / hen 
hen  whale walvis
heron reiger   wing vleugel
herring haring 
haring  wolf wolf 
hoof hoef   worm worm
horn hoorn 
hoorn  zebra zebra

65. INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

Some verbs require a preposition before an infinitive in
Dutch, while others do not. This is true in English as well;
e.g. I want to leave vs. I can read. Verbs that do not require
te before an infinitive include: modal verbs, blijven, laten,
zullen, zien (to see),
see), horen (to hear),
hear), voelen (to
voelen (to feel),
feel),
komen, gaan, vinden (to find),
find), leren (to teach),
teach), and
helpen.
Ik kan komen. I
komen. I can come.
Het zal morgen regenen. It will rain tomorrow.
Zij gaat iedere dag zwemmen. She goes swimming
everyday.
The preposition used in Dutch is te, te, although the om... te
construction can also be used. Verbs that use only te before
an infinitive include: zitten,
include: zitten, staan, liggen, lopen (to walk),
walk),
beginnen, proberen (to try),try), durven (to dare), hoeven
dare), hoeven (to
need), weten. After
weten. After these prepositions, te is used before an
infinitive: zonder (without),
(without), in plaats van (instead
van (instead of),
of), and
door (by.) When using om...te,
om...te, all adjectives, adverbs,
objects, and expressions of time, manner and place are
placed between om and te. Om... te is always used when the
infinitive occurs at the beginning of the sentence, and when
the infinitive refers to a preceding noun.
Hij stond op de bus te wachten. He
wachten. He stood waiting for the
bus.
Het begint te regenen. It's
regenen. It's beginning to rain.
Ik zei het zonder te denken. I
denken. I said it without thinking.
Het is erg moeilijk om te doen. It
doen. It is very difficult to do.
Hoeveel kost het om hier te parkeren? How
parkeren? How much is it to
park here?
Het is een interessant programma om naar te kijken. Itkijken. It is
an interesting program to watch.
English infinitives that follow an object are translated into
clauses using conjunctions in Dutch.
Zij verwacht dat ik kom. She
kom. She is expecting me to come.
(Literally: She expects that I come.)

66. PAST PERFECT TENSE

The past perfect tense corresponds to the perfect tense, but
the action occurred in the past before another action
occurred in the past. In English, it translates to "had" instead
of "have" before the past participle. To form this tense,
simply use the simple past of hebben or zijn (whichever
auxiliary the verb used in the
t he present perfect tense) and the
past participle.
Zij had de boeken niet gevonden. She
gevonden. She had not found the
books.
Jullie hadden in Paris gestudeerd. You
gestudeerd. You had studied in
Paris.

67. CONDITIONAL
The conditional mood expresses doubt or uncertainty. In
English, "would + infinitive" is used for the present
conditional and "would have + past participle" is used for the
past conditional. In Dutch, zou/zouden + infinitive is used for
the present conditional, and zou/zouden +
zou/zouden + past participle +
infinitive of hebben or zijn is used for the past conditional.
(Zou and zouden are the singular and plural past tense
forms of zullen.)
Ik zou graag thuis blijven. I
blijven. I would like to stay home.
Als ik jou was, zou ik dat huis niet kopen. If
kopen. If I were you, I
would not buy that house.
Ik zou graag thuis gebleven zijn. I
zijn. I would have liked to stay
home.

68. DIMINUTIVES
Diminutives are forms of a word that show smallness or
endearment and are much more common in Dutch
(especially spoken Dutch) than in English. All diminutives in
Dutch are formed by adding -je
adding -je to
 to the noun, and all are
neuter nouns and form the plural by adding -s.
kindje little
kindje little child
neusje little
neusje little nose
schaapje little
schaapje little sheep
Nouns endings in a vowel, y, w or j; nouns that contain a
long vowel or diphthong followed by r, l, or n; and nouns
ending in unstressed -er, -el, and -en add -tje to
-tje to form the
diminutive.
eitje little
eitje little egg
beentje little
beentje little leg
dekentje little
dekentje little blanket
Nouns containing a short vowel followed by r, l, n, m, or ng
add -etje.
balletje little
balletje little ball
stemmetje little voice
stemmetje little
Nouns ending in unstressed -ing drop the final -g and add -
kje.
verrassinkje little
verrassinkje little surprise
Nouns ending in -m add -pje (unless m is preceded by short
stressed vowel.)
bezempje little
bezempje little broom

69. PRESENT PARTICIPLE

The present participle is made by adding -d (or
-d (or sometimes -
de)
de) to the infinitive of a Dutch verb. Present participles are
not used as frequently in Dutch as in English. They are used
mainly when another action takes
action takes place within the specific
period of time we are talking about. So, every example
sentence is about two actions that take place at the same
time.
zingen to
zingen to sing
Ze liep zingend naar huis. She
huis. She walked home singing.

lopen to
lopen to walk
Kun jij lopend lezen? Can
lezen? Can you read while walking?

fluisteren to whisper
fluisteren to
Hij zei fluisterend dat hij eerder weg wilde. He
wilde. He said
whispering that he wanted to leave earlier.
Most of the time an English present participle is not
translated by a Dutch present participle. Usually, the Dutch
simple present tense is used instead.
Ze leest een boek. She
boek. She is reading a book.

70. PASSIVE VOICE

When the subject of the sentence does something, the
sentence is in the active voice.
voice. If something happens to that
person, we use the passive
the passive voice.
voice.
Replacing the auxiliary verb hebben (
hebben (to
to have)
have) by zijn (
zijn (to
to be)
be)
or worden (
worden (toto become,
become, to be from this moment on),
on), very
often results in the passive
the passive voice.
voice.
The verb vinden (to find) is in the active voice:
Ik heb gevonden. I
gevonden. I have found.
Ik had gevonden. I
gevonden. I had found.

 And in the passive voice:

voice:
Ik ben gevonden. I
gevonden. I am found
Ik ben gevonden. I
gevonden. I have been found.
Ik was gevonden. I
gevonden. I was found.
Ik was gevonden. I
gevonden. I had been found.
Ik word gevonden. I
gevonden. I am found (right now).
Suppose that Peter finds you.
Ik ben door Peter gevonden. I
gevonden. I am found by Peter.
Ik was door Peter gevonden. I
gevonden. I was found by Peter.
Ik word door Peter gevonden. I
gevonden. I am found by Peter (right
now).
Ik word door Peter gevonden. I
gevonden. I will be found by Peter.
"Ik word door Peter gevonden." in
gevonden." in the present
the present perfect  has
 has
about the same meaning as "Peter vindt mij." in
mij." in the simple
 present .