About 23 million people in the Netherlands and Belgium speak Dutch as their first language. That makes Dutch the seventh language of the European Union. The variety of Dutch spoken in Flanders is sometimes called Flemish; how far it actually differs from the Netherlands variety is a friendly argument that never quite ends. Dutch is also the official language of Suriname.
Dutch belongs to the West Germanic family, so it shares a lot of bone structure with English, German, Danish and Swedish. A lot of Dutch words will feel half-familiar to you on day one.
What to expect in this book
- Spelling and pronunciation. Dutch spelling is mostly transparent once you learn the four syllable rules. Pronunciation has a few famous troublemakers (g, u, ui, eu) and a lot of easy wins.
- Verbs. Regular verbs follow a single predictable pattern. Irregular verbs (the "strong" verbs) must be learned, but there are only about 180 of them and they cluster in patterns.
- Nouns and articles. Three articles: the indefinite _een_, and the two definites _de_ and _het_. Which article a noun takes is mostly memorised per word, with a handful of helpful hints.
- Adjectives. One main rule (add -e) plus three exceptions. Easier than it looks.
- Pronouns. Personal, possessive, demonstrative, reflexive and the pronominal adverbs that English does not have.
- Word order. The hardest chapter. Main clauses are verb-second. Subordinate clauses are verb-final. Everything else is commentary.
How to use this book
The chapters are short on purpose. You can read straight through, or jump to the chapter that matches what you are stuck on. Every page in the interactive app carries a play button, a chapter-coloured header and a mini quiz at the bottom; the PDF carries the same prose without the buttons.
Read a lot of Dutch, talk to Dutch speakers, and keep coming back to the trickier pages. That is the whole trick.