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Dutch grammar A1: beginner

The complete guide from A1 to B2: the rules, examples to listen to, the usual mistakes.

Level A1 covers the grammar of first exchanges in Dutch: introducing oneself, naming and describing people and things, talking about the day, about what one can, wants or has to do, about places and times, and about what happened. Dutch is close to English in many of its words, and the differences that matter appear in the first sentences.

What A1 covers

  • the present of regular verbs and of a few irregular ones, zijn and hebben first;
  • de-words and het-words, the plural, the demonstratives;
  • the personal pronouns and the possessives;
  • the word order of statements and questions, and negation;
  • the adjective and comparison, the prepositions of place and time, the date;
  • the modal verbs, separable verbs, the imperative and a first past tense, the perfectum.

What is familiar to an English speaker

  • many words are recognisable: de man, het huis, de appel, drinken, komen;
  • many plurals end in -s, and the comparative is formed with -er and dan (“than”);
  • the perfectum is formed, as the English present perfect is, with an auxiliary and a past participle.

What differs

  • two words for “the”: de and het, each noun taking one of them;
  • the finite verb in second place, also after a time word: Morgen werk ik;
  • no auxiliary do in questions and negative sentences: Werk je?, Ik werk niet;
  • niet and geen for English “not” and “no”;
  • a second verb, an infinitive or a past participle, placed at the end of the clause;
  • an ending -e on most adjectives before a noun;
  • the perfectum where English uses the simple past in speech: Ik heb gisteren gewerkt.

  1. The verb zijn

    The verb zijn (“to be”) is the most frequent verb in Dutch and the first irregular verb learnt.

  2. The present

    Dutch has one present tense where English has two: ik werk means “I work” as well as “I am working”.

  3. Modal verbs

    The modal verbs express ability, wishes, necessity and permission, and zullen is used to make a suggestion.

  4. Separable verbs

    Many everyday verbs consist of a short stressed first part, the separable prefix, and a simple verb: opstaan (“to get up”), meenemen (“to take along”), uitgaan (“to go out”), schoonmaken (“to clean”).

  5. The imperative

    The imperative is used for instructions, requests and advice.

  6. The perfectum

    The perfectum is the usual past tense of spoken Dutch.

  7. Nouns and articles

    Every Dutch noun is a de-word or a het-word, and the definite article shows which.

  8. Pronouns and possession

    The personal pronouns have a subject form and an object form, and several of them a full form and a reduced form.

  9. Word order

    In a Dutch main clause the finite verb has a fixed place: it is the second element of a statement and the first of a yes/no question.

  10. Negation

    In Dutch a sentence is negated with two words: niet (“not”) and geen (“no, not a, not any”).

  11. Prepositions

    Dutch prepositions of place and time are fixed largely by usage: English at corresponds to op, bij or om according to the phrase, and English to to naar or tot.

  12. Ordinal numbers and the date

    The ordinal numbers (eerste, tweede, derde) give an order.

  13. Adjectives

    A Dutch adjective has two forms, the bare form (groot) and the form in -e (grote).

Contents · Dutch grammar