Basics 1 is the first skill of the Dutch language tree. In these four lessons, the beginner to the Dutch language learns how to form basic sentences in Dutch.
Grammar Notes[]
Articles[]
Dutch has a trio of articles. These are de, het and een.
De and het are the definite articles; in English, this is the word "the." Unfortunately, the rules for using these two words are not completely clear; there is, however, a few patterns to their usage:
| De | Het |
|---|---|
|
|
The best way to learn which article goes with which is to memorize both the noun and its article.
Een means "a/an," and is used in the exact same way as "a/an" is in English. Een is unaffected by de or het.
Pronouns[]
| English | Dutch |
|---|---|
| I | ik |
| you (singular informal) | jij, je |
| he | hij |
| she | zij, ze |
| it | het |
| you (formal) | u |
| we | wij, we |
| you (plural informal) | jullie |
| they | zij, ze |
| Pronoun | Ending | Example: drinken (stem: drink-) |
|---|---|---|
| ik | (stem) | ik drink |
| jij, u | (stem)+t | jij drinkt |
| hij, zij, het | (stem)+t | zij drinkt |
| wij | (stem)+en | wij drinken |
| jullie | (stem)+en | jullie drinken |
| zij | (stem)+en | zij drinken |
Lessons[]
Lesson 1[]
- de = the (masculine/feminine/plural)
- de man = the man
- man = man
- de vrouw = the woman
- vrouw = woman
- de jongen = the boy
- jongen = boy
- ik = I
- ik ben = I am
- een = a/an
- en = and
Lesson 2[]
- het = the (neuter)
- het meisje = the girl
- meisje = girl
- of = or
- het kind = the child
- kind = child
- hij = he
- is = is (3rd person singular)
- hij is = he is
- ze = she (unstressed)
- ze is = she is
Lesson 3[]
- de appel = the apple
- appel = apple
- de melk = the milk
- melk = milk
- ik eet = I eat
- hij eet = he eats
- ik drink = I drink
- hij drinkt = he drinks
Lesson 4[]
- het water = the water
- water = water
- het brood = the bread
- brood = bread
- het sap = the juice
- sap = juice
- je = you (unstressed)
- je drinkt = you drink
- je bent = you are