from the 100% free Hear Dutch Here Website
Wat nu? Hoe Verder? What's Next?
Words, spelling & pronunciation, verbs ... and then: sentences
  1. When you've memorized a few hundred Dutch words - 2,
  2. and you understand the general spelling & pronunciation rules of Dutch and the most important exceptions,
  3. and you have made a good start with Dutch verbs conjugation and have become familiar with some common verbs like
    hebben click to hear 'to have' - zijn click to hear 'to be' - kunnen click to hear 'can, to be able to, to be possible, to be allowed to' - doen click to hear 2 3 to do - moeten click to hear 2 'must, have to, be obliged to, ought to, should,' - weten click to hear 'to know (things), have knowledge of' - houden van click to hear 'to like, to love' - willen click to hear 2 'to want, wish, desire, would like to' - and lezen click to hear 2 3 'to read' —
  4. then you can go on to sentences: begin speaking or writing Dutch:

  • Read the first page of Shorts: Building Sentences and listen to the examples.
    My life experience, priorities and lines of smalltalk are probably rather different from yours: replace with your own narrative – find your own words - 2
    The next Shorts: Building Sentences pages slowly introduce more complex lines and you'll learn about various other sentence features.
    You'll make many mistakes, that's to be expected, and that's not wrong: leren van fouten click to hear 2 3 ('learn from mistakes.')
  • Dutch friends or acquaintances you can talk or write to can help you, pointing out and correcting mistakes — though several students have told me not all friends are happy to play Dutch teacher. A professional teacher (preferably a native speaker of Dutch) can also be useful.
  • But as I said, you can also start by yourself, just on your own, then it's not so embarrassing. Think up sentences, just in your head, or writing or speaking (maybe recording) - imaginary conversations will make you search for the words you'll need and make you wonder where in the line the various words types should go. Regularly go back to my pages explaining the word order and compare your lines with the examples.

Shorts: Building Sentences (Word Order etc.)
1. Subject - Verb
2. Subject - Verb - Object
3. Subject - Verb - Complement
4. Adjectives and Nouns
5A. Past Participles, Verb Infinitives 1
5B. Past Participles, Verb Infinitives 2
6A. Questions
6B. Query Words
7. Negative Statements
8. The Imperative
9. The Indirect Object		 10. Reflexive Verbs
11. Time and Place 1
12. Time and/or Place 2
13. Combining Object and Complement
14. Ongoing Activities - The Dutch Continuous
15. Splitting Verbs
16. The Passive Voice
17. Placeholders 'Er,' 'Daar'  and 'Waar'
18. Sentences Starting with a Condition
19. Word Order in conditional 'dat-subentences
20. Verbs in conditional 'dat'  subsentences
21. Splitting Verbs Weirdness


Sample Sentences with Links to Long Explanation
[bicyclist (I ride a bike)]
ik fiets click to hear 2 3 ‑>> 		[I'm laughing]
ik lach click to hear ‑>> 		[I'm smiling]
ik glimlach click to hear 		[I am writing]
ik schrijf click to hear - ‑>>		 [I am sawing, cutting wood]
ik zaag click to hear
Ik ben zevenentwintig click to hear 2 I'm 27 years old - Numbers - Age
Ik ben één meter tachtig click to hear I'm 1 meter 80 (5'11") - Metric and Imperial, SAE
Lachen is gezond click to hear 2 Laughing is healthy - adjectives and adverbs - Sayings
Ik ben heel erg moe click to hear 2 I am [very very] extremely tired - Health - heel, veel & erg
Mijn ogen zijn bruin - de bruine ogen click to hear 2 My eyes are brown, I have brown eyes - body parts - colors
Het haar is grijs - het grijze haar click to hear The hair is grey - the grey hair - adjectives - the S/Z and F/V shift
Hallo, ik heet Marco click to hear Hi - [I'm called ...] my name is Marco - Dutch Names
Hoe doe je dat? click to hear How do you do that? - Query Words - Question Mode
Hoe duur is dit? click to hear How expensive is this? What's the price? Shopping
Jan geeft Piet een boek click to hear Jan gives Piet a book - the indirect object
Jan geeft een boek aan Piet click to hear Jan gives a book to Piet - prepositions
Ik zit te denken aan een cadeau click to hear I'm thinking of a present - the Dutch Continuous/Progressive
We staan te wachten op een taxi click to hear 2 3 We're waiting for a taxi
Ik ben een brood aan 't bakken click to hear 2 I'm baking [a] bread
tanden poetsen click to hear brushing teeth verbs with nouns or adjectives
Ik zie het click to hear 2 3 I see it - 'placeholders'
Ik kijk ernaar click to hear 2 3 I'm looking at it - 'placeholders'
Ik heb de vogels gehoord click to hear 2 3 I've heard the birds - various verb combinations
Ik heb de vogels horen fluiten click to hear 2 3 I've heard the birds sing
Ik heb kunnen voorkomen ... click to hear 2 3 I was able to prevent ...
Ik heb geprobeerd te helpen click to hear 2 I have tried to help
Het is vaak bewolkt in Nederland click to hear It's often overcast in Holland
In Nederland is het vaak bewolkt click to hear In Holland, it's often overcast - word order after ...
De Tachtigjarige Oorlog begon in 1568 click to hear The 80-Years War (The Dutch Revolt) started in 1568
In 1568 begon De Tachtigjarige Oorlog click to hear In 1568 the 80-Years War (The Dutch Revolt) started ‑>>
Ik was gisteren bij de tandarts click to hear I was at the dentist yesterday time before place in Dutch
Ik ga morgen bij m'n moeder eten click to hear I'll [eat] have dinner (or lunch) at my mother's tomorrow

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Gij zult niet stelen click to hear 'Thou shalt not steal'