The Grammar Pages

I am not a grammarian and do not plan nor hope to become one. My grammar pages are just meant to provide some basic rules you'll need to speak Dutch. I have tried to use as little jargon as possible, just the unavoidable basic words like 'verbs,' 'nouns' and 'adjectives' etc.
Find some Dutch grammar words ('terms') on my Conversation Subjects Page - Smartphone Version

Quick Links:	Quick One Page - Commmon Problems	Personal Pronouns	Verbs	Word Order	Plurals	Adjectives and Adverbs	Spelling and Pronunciation
	Smartphone:	Personal Pronouns	Verbs	Word Order	-	Adjectives and Adverbs	Spelling and Pronunciation
	Earlier Versions:	Personal Pronouns	Verbs Verbs	Word Order Word Order

One Page: The most important pronunciation, spelling and grammar on one page - for when you're in a hurry, looking for a quick refresher or quick reference. The page has many links to longer treatments.

The Lessons often have newer versions of the material in my older grammar pages - lessons overview.

Personal Pronouns and Verbs

The personal pronouns are explained in Lesson 7 - the older version has a section on reflexive pronouns and verbs. Also: 125 Sample Sentences.

ik fiets

fietsen ik fiets jij fietst hij fietst wij fietsen jullie fietsen zij fietsen U fietst 2	(to ride a bike) (I ride a bike) (you ride a bike) (he rides a bike) (we ride bikes) (you ride bikes) (they ride bikes) (you ride a bike)	ik fietste jij fietste hij fietste wij fietsten jullie fietsten zij fietsten U fietste	(I rode a bike) (you rode a bike) (he rode a bike) (we rode bikes) (you rode bikes) (they rode bikes) (you rode a bike)	(you - singular, informal) (you - plural, informal) (you - polite)
Most verbs of motion perfect with 'zijn' when it's about the destination, and take 'hebben' when the motion itself is the thing: Ik ben naar Veenendaal gefietst 2 (I rode a bike to Veenendaal) Ik heb een uur gefietst 2 (I rode a bike for an hour)

The Verbs Page shows the rules for the conjugation of verbs in the different tenses (present, past, perfect etc.) - most of it also in new versions in the lessons:

To Be - Present Tense (Lesson 7)
To Have - Present Tense (Lesson 8)
The Simple (Imperfect) Present (Lesson 9)
The Past Tense of To Have and To Be (Lesson 11)
The Imperfect Past (Lesson 12)
The Perfect Present (Lesson 12)
A List of Strong Verbs (Lesson 12)
The Passive Voice (Lesson 13)
The Future Tense (Lesson 14)
A Dutch Continuous (Lesson 15)

Verbs Combined and 'Te' - Combining Verbs - past participles or infinitives? - and the use of 'te'

Find the basic forms of the most common verbs on: 'Basic' Dutch Verbs
- 41 Common Verbs - full conjugation and sample sentences
The complete conjugation of 59 common verbs (with a few examples of the regular verb conjugation) can be found on the 'Verbs Library' page.
The smartphone verbs library is a new, greatly expanded version with many examples of usage

Splitting Verbs: Which verbs split up and when, and where does the split-off go?

The Personal Pronouns page has a section on the reflexive pronouns and verbs.

Verbs as Nouns and Adjectives and the irregular verbs mogen and kunnen ('to be allowed - may' and 'to be able to - can') are only on the Verbs page, not yet in the Lessons.

The Easy Dutch Verbs page is another introduction to Dutch verbs and it has a collection of recognizable verbs: verbs that mean and look and/or sound similar to English verbs.

The Smartphone Verbs Pages are the latest version.

Word Order

subject	working verb	(object)	(complement)	other verbs

The Word Order Page shows the right place for the various elements in Dutch lines. Some of it is in newer form in the lessons:

Adjectives (Lesson 11)

Adjectives and Adverbs, Word Order		Spelling Changes		Systematic Examples		Exceptions		As Nouns

Simple Sentences, Simple Questions (Lesson 13)

Basic Sentences		The Complement		The Object		The Indirect Object		Combining Object and Complement		Simple Questions

Secondary Verbs, More Questions, Commands (Lesson 14)

Verbs at The End of The Sentence		More Questions		Query Words		Commands, Orders and Suggestions

Sentences Starting with Time, Place or A Condition (Lesson 15)

Verb Before Subject		Word Order in The Subordinate Clause		Place of Complement and Object		Compound Verbs Changes

The new 'phrases' pages have hundreds of useful Dutch lines - and you can also study them with an eye towards word order.
The Most Basic Phrases - Weather - Food and Drink - Travel - Sleep - Various
- Jobs and Lines of Work - The Senses - Using Words
Time Thesaurus - Change - Life - Speaking Dutch, Speaking about Dutch - Sayings and Idiom

The Smartphone Word Order Page are the latest version, and it pulls all the material together

Spelling and Pronunciation

Dutch spelling is fairly phonetical and the rules for writing 'long' and 'short' vowels are quite logical and can be considered part of grammar.

Pronunciation: vowels (Lesson 1) - diphthongs (Lesson 2) - consonants (Lesson 8)
And Exceptions and Irregularities are in Lesson 10 - and an older version.
Vowels and Diphthongs Compared
The spelling of long and short vowels is explained in Lesson 3 - and again with many more examples in the Adjectives section of Lesson 11, and the Plurals page - an older version.

Pronunciation Exercises:
Flash Cards Pronunciation and Listening Exercises
'False Friends' Pronunciation Exercise
An old Spelling and Pronunciation Exercise
An old Phrases Listening Exercise

Plurals

The various forms of Dutch Plurals explained, with about 350 examples. It is also a good vocabulary page.
Flashcards Exercise

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives in most positions add an -E to the root word. You may already have seen this in the 'Word Order' chapter mentioned above (Lesson 11.)
Declension of Adjectives Flashcards Exercise (first of four) - Adjectives and Adverbs Listening Test

Other Overview Pages: Names - Words - Pronunciation - Picture Pages - Listening - Basic Dutch - Lessons - Essays - Exercises

It is said that Bieneke Berendsen's dutchgrammar.com is a good website.
Pieter van Leest's spelling.nl focuses on spelling, with games and exercises. It's entirely in Dutch, meant for Dutch elementary school students, but could be useful to advanced foreign students

email - Copyright © Marco Schuffelen 2011-2021. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed, or hotlinked to.
Don't be a dief (thief) / dievegge (female thief) - diefstal (theft) - stelen (to steal) - heler (dealer in stolen goods) - hear Dutch - 2