Vocabulary - Learn Dutch Words and Speech

Start learning a new language with words.
My website has four approaches to learning elementary vocabulary, four types of pages, four different collections of words for learning. Many words to learn — start with words and subjects that look useful or interesting to you:

• The 'Basic Dutch' pages offer the most useful selection of words, but it may be the least exciting, just lists of words with English translation.
• The 'Pictures Dictionary' pages are the most attractive way to learn words.
• The 'Words by Subject' pages give useful vocabulary for a large number of subjects, often with some additional information. Choose the pages of the fields that interest you.
• The 'Easy Dutch' pages 'explore' the similarities between English and Dutch. You'll find words that look or sound similar to the English words of the same meaning and verbs that follow similar patterns - easy to memorize (I hope.) Differences in how the words are said and written will help you better understand Dutch spelling and pronunciation.

Before you start learning words, read about the two Dutch definite articles ('the') - de 2 and het 2 3 (often said as: 't - but not often written that way.) Read: The Article - about 2/3 of Dutch nouns are de-words, so when learning nouns, memorize which take het — there are not many useful rules.

If you didn't read up about pronunciation yet, you may be puzzled by the spelling of 'long' and 'short' vowels and the 'third E' — learning words will be easier when you understand how long and short vowels are written (it's fairly logical.) Read the first two chapters of Learn Pronunciation - or: The Spelling of Long and Short Vowels - or this long version
You could also find the spelling/pronunciation rules by yourself by studying and listening closely to many examples

Basic Dutch

Food and Drink ‑>>	- flash cards: vocabulary / listening
(het) eten food ‑>> 2 (het) drinken drink ‑>> 2 (de) maaltijd meal ‑>>	(het) water water (de) suiker sugar (het) zout salt	(het) vlees meat (de) vis fish ‑>> (de) melk milk ‑>>

Basic Dutch Nouns
Smartphone 'Basic' Dutch Nouns List (1-column, narrow screen)
Nouns Flashcards exercises: 750 Nouns - By Chapter - Listening

Adjectives and Adverbs
about 200 adjectives and adverbs, for instance:

arm 2 / arme 2 3 poor ‑>> rijk / rijke rich ‑>>

goedkoop / goedkope 2 3 cheap, inexpensive ‑>> duur / dure 2 expensive, dear ‑>>

Basic Dutch Adjectives and Adverbs
Smartphone Version
Adjectives and Adverbs Flash cards exercises:
Vocabulary - (old version) - Listening - Opposites, Antonyms

Verbs
about 100 verbs, for instance:

English	Dutch infinitive	simple present singular	simple present plural	simple past singular	simple past plural	perfect tense
English example:	to come	I come	we come	I came	we came	I have come
to come	komen	ik kom	wij komen	ik kwam	wij kwamen	ik ben gekomen	2 ‑>>
to go	gaan	ik ga	wij gaan	ik ging	wij gingen	ik ben gegaan	2 ‑>>
to give	geven	ik geef	wij geven	ik gaf	wij gaven	ik heb gegeven	2 ‑>>
to take	nemen	ik neem	wij nemen	ik nam	wij namen	ik heb genomen	2 3 ‑>>

Basic Dutch Verbs
~Smartphone Version
Verbs Flashcards Tests: Vocabulary - Listening

Prepositions and other 'Little Words' Pictorial
about 100 Prepositions and other 'little words,' with pictures for the literal meaning, for instance:

voor in front of, before - more achter behind - more tussen between -and- among - more

naast next to, beside - more A is voor B en C A is in front of B and C B is tussen A en C B is between A and C C is achter A en B C is behind A and B D is naast A D is next to A Dutch 'tussen' is both 'between' (two) and 'among' (more than two.)

Basic Dutch Prepositions and other 'Little Words' Pictorial
Smartphone Version

Prepositions and other 'Little Words' Lists
Prepositions and other 'little words' Lists, for instance:

no	- nee ‑>>	"Heeft U bananen?" / "Nee."	"Do you have bananas?" / "No."
	- geen ‑>>	er zijn geen bananen	there are no bananas
		er zijn geen bergen in Nederland	there are no mountains in Holland

Prepositions and other 'Little Words Lists: Systematic - Alphabetic

Pictures Dictionaries

zeepflesje

vloeibare zeep

zeep handen wassen

handdoek

badstof

basic food pages:

vegetables

fruits

dinners

other food

colors

meals - 2 3

media

clothing - 2

beauty

necessities

weather - 2

the outdoors

animals - 2

trees

flowers - 2

parks

the house - 2 3

a livingroom

electricity

fire

yard - 2

laundry, cleaning

food - 2 3 4 5

kitchen - 2 3 4 5 6

bicycles

jewelry

days of old

traffic - 2

buildings

shopping

tools - 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

chess

cards and dice

street

desk

rooms

outdoors

cleanliness

a few body parts

Children's Dictionary - Plaatjes- en luisterwoordenboek voor kleine kinderen:
woordjes leren	Pictures and Audio Dictionary for Small Children - page 1

page 2

Page 3

The Smartphone picture pages have a 1-column, narrow list of useful words:

first words 1

first words 2

first words 3

prepositions

colors

vegetables

fruits

meals

other foods

Words by Subject

Family Tree - Birthday - The Dutch Family
- see also: Easy Dutch 2

Medical - health, body parts, doctors, ailments
- see also Easy Dutch 2

Chemistry - including the periodic table

Music Vocabulary and Musical Instruments

Words of Religion - also a few prayers and readings from the Bible

Food - one of many food pages (more in the Pictures Dictionary)

Ships - Military - Medieval - Fairy Tales - Mail - Shopping

Emotions with my take on the Plutchik diagrams

Size and Measurements - Location, Direction - Geographical Features

Short Lists

From the 'Dutch Food' page: Bread - Milk and Cheese - Nutritional Values - Spices

From other pages: Emergency Preparedness - Make-Up (etc.) - "Ladies' Stuff"

'Easy Dutch' - 'Recognizable' Words

1. Easy Dutch 1: Vocabulary and Pronunciation
   Introduction to the shared roots of English and Dutch, and the changes between them. Words lists organized by pronunciation.
   a few examples: ('long' A)

   (de) slaap 2 (de) straat 'street' (de) baard 2 'beard'

   (de) tafel 2 3 4 'table' maken 'to make' later 'later'

   [(het)] haar 'her' // 'hair' normaal 'normal' sandalen 2 'sandals'

   (de) draak 2 'dragon' (de) haring 'herring' (het) wapen weapon

   (de) vader 'father' laatste 2 'last, final' maart 'March'

   (de) havik 2 'hawk' (de) maan 'moon' (de) klaver 2 'clover'

2. Easy Dutch 2: Words by Subject
   Colors - Days, Months, Seasons - Numbers - Time - The Human Body - Family and Relatives - On the Farm - More Animals - Music - Trees
   an example:

   rood	oranje	geel	groen	blauw	paars

   zwart	wit	bruin	grijs

   Only black and purple are very different, but an old Dutch word for purple looks more familiar: purper

3. Easy Dutch 3: 'Recognizable' Verbs with many simple sentences as examples
   for example:

   to break breken	broke brak	broken gebroken
   to see zien	saw zag	seen gezien
   to seek (search) zoeken	sought zocht	sought gezocht 2
   to bring brengen	brought bracht	brought gebracht

4. The 'Smartphone Pronunciation Exercise' is a short version on the 'Easy Dutch' and False Friends pages mentioned above and below, three one-column lists, one of identical words with similar meaning, one of identical words with rather different meaning and one list of similar, from English recognizable words with about the same meaning
   a few examples:
   (het) advies 2 - (de) adviseur 2 - (het) alfabet 2 - (de) ambitie - analoog 2 - (de) anatomie - (de) arrogantie 2 - (de) bakkerij 2 - bizar - (de) combinatie 2 - complicaties 2 - conservatief 2 - (de) creatie 2 - [(de)] crimineel 2 3 - (het) debuut 2 - de) democratie - diagonaal 2

5. The 'Easy Dutch' words are 'recognizable' from English and have about the same meaning, but the 'False Frends' ('Faux Amis)  pages have identical words of different meaning, not 'easy Dutch' but amusing:
   False Friends
   a few examples:

   Meaning		Dutch	English		Dutch word, alternates
   bright, intelligent		slim	slim		slank slender - also: dun thin or: mager skinny also: klein 2 small, little
   inflexible		star	star		(de) ster distant sun // great performer
   beach		(het) strand	strand		(de/het) draad thread, string, wire
   stairs		(de) trap	trap		(de) val device or trick to catch an animal or person
   in de war confused		war	war		(de) oorlog violent struggle between groups

   ~75 'Basic' False Friends  -  ~300 False Friends  -  'Medium' Version

Double Meanings

veel 2 3

• 'veel' 2 3 'much' // 'many' — 'weinig' 2 3 4 'little' // 'few'
  also: meer 2 'more' and minder 'less' // 'fewer'
  ' much, many, few, little, more, less, fewer
• goed 2 3 'good' 'well' // 'right, correct'
  slecht // erg 'bad'
  'verkeerd' // 'fout' // 'mis' 'wrong'
  Good and Bad, Right and Wrong
• groot 2 3 4 5 'large, tall, big, great ' — klein 2 3 4 5 'small, little'
  Large, Tall, Big, Great and Small, Little
• sterk 'strong' — zwak 2 'weak'
  (de) kracht 2 'strength, power, force' — (de) macht 'power (might)'
  Strong and Weak, Force and Power
• '[(de)] Weg' 'way, road' // 'away, gone' - weg
  English 'back' can be (de) rug (body part) or terug (coming, going back) - rug and  terug

The many-meanings, many-translations are a more serious and difficult problem with prepositions and other 'little words.' Dutch prepositions are often translated into English by several different words, and English prepositions likewise by several different Dutch words.
- 'Advanced' Chapter below

Other Words Lists

Niet, Geen  and Wel
'Heel,' 'Veel'  and 'Erg'
To Be: 'Zijn'  and 'Worden'
on- and -loos negating

Personal Pronouns - smartphone version

Diminutives Verkleinwoordjes - Examples - List

The Strong Verbs List comes with a collection of interesting related words

The examples on the Plurals page are also useful vocabulary.

Units' - 'partitives' - a bar of soap, a head of lettuce - and other common combinations

Kind-of Random Words Collections: 1 - 2 - 3

The [ ] Square Brackets: [With] In Other Words page explains the literal-translations use of square brackets on my website and the Dutch use of seemingly meaningless, superfluous words

Sideways Learning

The essays, mostly in the lessons, tell about a wide variety of Dutch things, and if you are so inclined, several of the recipes also have Dutch words.
'False Friends' are words that look the same in different languages but don't have the same meaning. They may make you think you know them but they're not what they look like. I hope my list of identical Dutch and English words provides an entertaining if unusual way to get to know some words - short version. Like on the 'Easy Dutch' pages (similar words with about the same meaning) you'll also quickly learn the differences between how letters are pronounced in English and Dutch.
Other 'Sideways Learning' pages:

• Cognates - words from the same root, how they developed in English, Dutch and German (an old page.)
• Education (lesson 11)
• Elections, Politics and Government in Holland
• Hebrew Words in Dutch and Malay Words in Dutch
• The Sayings page is also fun to read, some explanation of Dutch standard phrases
• The Beautiful Language: Dutch Alliterations
• Tulip Names
• Special Days and Holidays Greetings
• For Laughs - Fun Things to Say

Plurals

Plurals - Flashcards Exercise

Lines and Phrases, Conversation, Dutch Talk

You could read: Learning Verbs
and look at 100 Common Verbs Overview
— Smartphone Version
60 Common Verbs - complete conjugation and examples of usage
Word Order: short version - longer version
— Smartphone version
Differences between Dutch and English Word Order

Dutch Speech, Dutch Talk, The 'Conversation Templates'

• The Most Basic Dutch Phrases Useful words and phrases for when you're visiting Holland. Many people in Holland speak some English, but it's a nice courtesy to say a few Dutch words. Older versions: 1 - 2.
• Some Dutch people will be surprised or incredulous that a foreigner wants to speak Dutch. So what do you say? Speaking Dutch, Speaking about Dutch
• The Small Change of Conversation ™
• Meet and Greet
• Commenting on Statements and Opinions
• Why? - Because - The Reason - Cause & Effect
• Chance, Luck, Outcomes and Risk
• Expectations and What Happens
• Ziek - Talking about Not Feeling Well
• Talking about Time
• Fun Phrases - an entertaining page, and maybe it'll be useful to you someday.
  
• My other Phrases pages offer the kind of lines you will need in certain situations or when talking about certain subjects. These pages also have words lists or links to other vocabulary pages to adapt the lines to your personal situation and preferences.
  These phrases pages started out as a single page: 'Conversations Template' (with also sample lines for letters and email) but many of the chapters grew out to separate pages with hundreds of lines:
• Weather - more than 100 lines: rain, the forecast, sun, wind, warm/cold, bad weather, sayings
• Eating and Drinking, Food Phrases - about 200 lines: inviting, questions, comments, preferences, in a restaurant, cooks talking, sayings
• Travel - Sleep - Jobs and Lines of Work
• When? - How Often? - How Long?
• The Senses - seeing, hearing, looking, listening, to understand, to feel
• Using Words - to say, to speak, to chat, to tell, to write, to read, the news
• 'What I Want' - to love, to like, to desire, luck and happiness, 'the other side,' preferences
• Medical - doctors, diseases, symptoms, body parts
• and more to come
• 'Thesaurus' pages with almost all the words and phrases you'll ever need about a subject, with many sample sentences, examples of usage:
  • Life
  • Change
  • Time

The Sayings page has about 250 Dutch standard phrases - probably not for immediate use, but fun to read through and listen to, and maybe you can someday impress your Dutch friends with an appropriate quote ...

The 'Word Order' and Personal Pronouns Examples pages also have many lines, albeit not in a phrase-friendly order.
Next to the complete conjugation of verbs, the Smartphone Verbs Pages have many examples of verbs usage in sentences
The Words by Subject pages you may have seen above often have some examples of usage of the words

Advanced Vocabulary
- Prepositions and other 'Little Words'

dan 2

toen 2 3

Dan ben ik op reis 2	Then, at that time I [am] will be traveling
Toen was ik op reis 2 3	I was traveling then, at the time I was traveling

Wim is groter dan Henk	Wim is taller than Henk
Henk is kleiner dan Wim	Henk is shorter than Wim

This is a difficult subject. It is of course not meant to scare you away, dear students ('scary Dutch') and send you to teachers who pretend that learning Dutch is easy — it needs hard work. I don't think you can learn, memorize all of this - look for common words and words that look useful to you. With much exposure to good Dutch you'll get a 'feel' for it.

I don't see great differences in the meaning or the situation described but Dutch 'aan' can be translated in English by many different words, like On, At, To, Of, For, In, From, By, and About. Even closely related languages like Dutch and English don't have straight equivalents for most prepostions. The usage has historically grown. You could say it's an acquired taste.
You might want to have another look at the Basic Dutch Prepositions Pictorial - Smartphone Version

aan ‑>>	on, upon	Aan de ene kant ... 2 3 On the one [side] hand ... Zet je de vuilnisbak aan de straat? Will you put the garbage can [on the street] on the curb, to the side of the street? Harder werken aan Nederlands leren Work harder on learning Dutch
	on, not off	Doe 't licht aan 2 3 Turn on the light Doe laarzen aan 2 3 Put on boots Wat doe je me aan! 2 [What are you doing to me!] - You're causing me much grief
	to	Aan tafel! 2 [Come] to the table! (food is served) Aan alles komt een eind 2 There's an end to everything (nothing lasts forever) Laat het aan de vakman over Leave it to the professionals
	at	Hij zat aan tafel He was sitting at the table Aan het eind van de straat gaan we rechtsaf At the end of the street we'll go right
	of	een teveel aan informatie 2 an overabundance, overload of information (het) gebrek aan fantasie 2 3 lack of imagination
	for	de behoefte aan rust 2 3 the need for quiet, rest 't Is niet aan ons om te oordelen 2 3 4 It's not for (up to) us to judge
	in, into	Geen wolkje aan de lucht 2 (saying) [Not a cloud in the sky] No problems are expected
	from	Ze lijden aan geheugenverlies 2 'They are suffering from memory loss' - usually said when people ignore inconvenient history
	by	Ik herkende hem aan z'n stem 2 I recognized him by his voice zich ergeren aan 2 3 4 to be annoyed by (at, with)
	about	Je moet er wat aan doen 2 3 4 You have to do something about it Ik kan er niks aan doen ['I can't do anything about it'] 1. 'I can't help it,' 2. I can't fix it

Introduction to Prepositions and other 'Little Words'
- Aan - Achter - Af - Al - Alleen - Als - Beneden/Boven - Bij - Bijna - Binnen/Buiten - Daar - Dan - Dat - Door - Dus - Eens - Enig - Er - Erg - Even - Geen - Haast - Heel - Het - Ieder/Elk - In - Klaar - Laat - Liever - Maar - Mee/Mede- - Met - Na - Naar - Net - Nog - Nogal - Of - Om - Omdat - Onder/Boven - Ook - Op - Open/Dicht - Over - Sommige - Te - Tegen - Terug - Toch - Toen - Tussen - Uit - Van - Voor - Vroeg - Waar - Wat - Want - Weer - Weg - Wel - Welke - Zo - Zonder - Zulk - more

For Comparison
Translating English 'to' into Dutch

to ‑>>	te ‑>>	't Hoeft niet grappig te zijn 2 3 4 It doesn't have to be funny
	naar ‑>>	Ik ga naar Parijs 2 I'm going to Paris
	voor 2 ‑>>	Twee voor twaalf two to twelve (11:58) Was dat duidelijk voor je? 2 Was that clear to you?
	aan ‑>>	Aan de kant! 2 3 4 To the side! Get out of the way! Jan geeft een boek aan Piet Jan gives a book to Piet
	in 2 ‑>>	Ik ben nog nooit in Rome geweest. I've never been to Rome. Welkom in mijn nederige stulp 2 Welcome to my humble dwelling
	om ... te ‑>>	Om te beginnen ... 2 To start with ..., For starters ... Om 't af te leren 2 3 'to unlearn it,' 'to break the habit' - said when you take one too many drinks or snacks
	tot ‑>>	28 tot 31 dagen in een maand (achtentwintig tot éénendertig) 28 to 31 days in a month van Gouda tot Schoonhoven 2 from Gouda to Schoonhoven (the area, or the distance)
	op ‑>>	van de ene dag op de andere 2 3 [from, between one day to [another] the next] - suddenly, unexpectedly Het viel op de grond 2 3 It fell to the [ground] floor het antwoord op Uw vraag ... the answer to your question ...
	tegen ‑>>	Hij loog tegen mij 2 He lied to me Er is geen enkel bezwaar tegen 2 There is [not any] no objection to it
	met ‑>>	Hij stond te praten met Piet He was talking [with] to Piet Vergeleken met Rusland ... 2 Compared to Russia ...
	other ‑>>	Neem de tweede weg links en dan de derde weg rechts take the 2nd road to the left and then the 3rd to the left Van de hand in de tand leven [Existing from the hand into the tooth] - living hand to mouth

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Gij zult niet stelen 'Thou shalt not steal'