The learning path
All 90 grammar topics in the order in which they support one another — numbered from 1 to 90.
Your progress at a glance
Each petal is a category: easy topics on the inside, hard ones on the outside. Tap a petal to see only its topics.
Where are you right now?
- A1Introducing yourself, asking questions, saying everyday things.
- Unit 1The first sentence
- Words first · 9 · 1/2Words first · 9 · 2/2The Dutch alphabetThe same twenty-six letters as in English, plus the long ij — but some are called and sound different.
- Words first · 10 · 1/3Words first · 10 · 2/3Words first · 9 · 3/3ik, jij, hij: personal pronouns as subjectNine forms, many of them in pairs: stressed and unstressed — jij and je, zij and ze, wij and we.
- Words first · 8 · 1/2Words first · 8 · 2/2zijn and hebben: ik ben, ik hebThe two most important verbs, both irregular — and both close to English “to be” and “to have”.
- Words first · 9 · 1/2Words first · 8 · 2/2Ik werk, jij werkt: the regular presentA regular verb has only three forms in the present: the stem, the stem with -t, and the infinitive.
- Words first · 10Yes–no questions: Werk jij hier?The verb comes first — and before jij and je it loses its -t.
- Words first · 9 · 1/3Words first · 9 · 2/3Words first · 7 · 3/3de or het: two words for “the”English has one “the”, Dutch has two — and nothing in English tells you which to use.
- Words first · 8 · 1/2Words first · 7 · 2/2Long and short vowels: aa and aDoubled means long, single before a consonant means short — man and maan are two words.
- Words first · 9dit is, dat zijn, het is: introducing and pointingFor introducing and pointing, Dutch uses dit, dat and het — whether the noun is a de or a het word.
- A story to readDe eerste dag in Amsterdam · A1
- Unit 2Numbers, time and dates
- Words first · 7 · 1/2Words first · 6 · 2/2een, twee, drie: the cardinal numbersUnits before tens, everything in one word — and a diaeresis where two e meet.
- Words first · 6 · 1/2Words first · 6 · 2/2mij, jou, hem, haar: pronouns as objectOne form for “me” whether you see me or give me something — and for things hem, het or ze.
- Words first · 10ui, ij, eu, oe: the unfamiliar vowel signsoe is “oo”, eu is like “fur”, u is a rounded “ee” — and ui has no English counterpart at all.
- Words first · 7 · 1/2Words first · 7 · 2/2Ik loop, ik zit, ik leef: the stem and the spellingWithout -en the spelling often changes: long vowels are doubled, double consonants become single, v and z become f and s.
- Words first · 7 · 1/2Words first · 6 · 2/2Ik ga koken: gaan plus infinitivegaan in second place, the infinitive at the end: the commonest way to talk about plans.
- Words first · 6 · 1/2Words first · 5 · 2/2in, op, aan, bij: prepositions of placein, op, aan, bij, naast, onder, boven and tussen say where something is.
- Words first · 3een, één, geen — and no article at alleen never changes, nor does geen — and before plurals and mass nouns nothing stands at all.
- A story to readEen briefje op de koelkast · A1
- Unit 3Pronouns
- Words first · 5mijn, jouw, ons, onze: possessive pronounsNo case endings — only ons and onze change, depending on whether a het word follows.
- Words first · 7 · 1/2Words first · 7 · 2/2groot or grote: the adjective with and without -eAfter the verb the adjective stays bare, before the noun it nearly always takes -e.
- Words first · 5Inversion: Morgen werk ik thuisIf the sentence does not begin with the subject, verb and subject swap places.
- Words first · 6Ik eet graag vis: graag, houden van, lekkergraag after the verb, houden van before the noun — and lekker, when something tastes good or feels pleasant.
- Words first · 7g, ch and sch: the rough soundg and ch sound the same, rough like “loch” — and sch is s plus ch, never English “sk” or “sh”.
- Words first · 4Question words: wie, wat, waar, hoewie means “who”, hoe means “how” — and the verb follows straight after.
- Words first · 6deze, die, dit, dat: demonstrative pronounsFour words, two questions: near or far? de word or het word?
- Unit 4Alphabet and pronunciation
- Words first · 2Open and closed syllables: maan – manen, bal – ballenA long vowel at the end of a syllable is written single, a short one needs two consonants before the ending.
- Words first · 2Negation with niet and geengeen negates a noun without a definite article, niet everything else — like “no” and “not”.
- Words first · 5Hoe laat is het? Telling the timehalf drie is 2:30, and from twenty past you already count towards the half hour.
- Words first · 6Ik ga, ik kan, ik mag: verbs with their own formsA handful of frequent verbs deviate — gaan, doen, staan, zien and the modal verbs kunnen, willen, mogen, zullen.
- Words first · 2The plural in -en and -sMostly -en, after an unstressed ending -s, after a vowel ’s.
- Words first · 7u or je: how to address peopleu is the polite “you” — but far rarer: in everyday life most people say je.
- Words first · 2f and v, s and z: huis – huizen, brief – brievenAt the end of a word there is never a v or z — when an ending follows, they often come back.
- The verb in second placeIn a main clause the verb stands in second place — unlike English, where the subject stays in front of it.
- A story to readIn het café · A1
- A2Talking about what happened and saying what comes next.
- Unit 5The perfect
- Words first · 5Gewerkt or gewoond: the regular participlege + stem + t or d — which letter is decided by the rule ’t kofschip.
- Words first · 8een groot huis: the gap without -eA het word in the singular with no het, dit, dat or possessive before it: then the -e is missing.
- Words first · 7Irregular plurals: kinderen, steden, schepenA few common words take -eren or lengthen their vowel — you learn them one by one.
- Words first · 5The verb bracket: Ik heb lang gewachtAuxiliary or modal verb in second place, the rest of the verb at the end.
- Words first · 1Ik ben aan het koken: the progressivezijn aan het plus infinitive says that something is going on right now — like “I am cooking”.
- Words first · 9eerste, tweede, derde: the ordinal numbersUp to nineteen mostly -de, from twenty -ste — with eerste and achtste as outsiders.
- Words first · 6 · 1/2Words first · 6 · 2/2Ik bel je op: separable verbsLike English phrasal verbs: in a main clause the particle goes to the end; in a subordinate clause and in the infinitive the verb stays whole.
- A story to readEen mail aan de huisbaas · A2
- Unit 6The future
- Words first · 8Ik zal je bellen: zullenzullen promises, supposes and suggests, and is the neutral future only in formal texts.
- Words first · 6om, op, in, over, geleden: prepositions of timeom for clock time, op for the day, in for month and season — and over means “in”.
- Words first · 3er as a place: Ik ben er geweester replaces a place that has already been mentioned — unstressed, in the middle of the sentence.
- Words first · 2Kunnen, moeten, willen, mogenFour modal verbs with their own forms — kan, moet, wil, mag — and the infinitive at the end of the clause.
- Words first · 7me, je, zich, ons: reflexive pronounszich only for the third person and u — “we are looking forward” takes ons, “we see each other” takes elkaar.
- Words first · 7Ik heb gefietst, ik ben naar huis gefietst: hebben or zijnzijn for a change of place with a goal and for a change of state, otherwise hebben.
- Words first · 4groter, grootst: comparison-er and -st like English — with -der after r and a few irregular forms.
- A story to readBij de huisarts · A2
- Unit 7Alphabet and pronunciation
- Words first · 5Stress and accent marks: één, vóórStress is mostly on the first syllable of the stem — and a mark on the vowel shows emphasis, not another sound.
- Words first · 3Nog niet, niet meer, geen … meer: “not yet” and “not any more”nog niet and nog geen for “not yet”, niet meer and geen … meer for “not any more” — much as in English, with fixed positions.
- Words first · 3Gegeten, geschreven, gegaan: strong participlesStrong verbs end in -en in the participle and often change their vowel — much as in English.
- Words first · 2Werkte or woonde: the regular imperfectStem plus -te or -de, in the plural -ten or -den — which letter ’t kofschip tells you.
- Words first · 3Kom binnen! Wacht even! The imperativeThe stem of the verb, the same for everybody — and with even, maar or eens it becomes a friendly request.
- Words first · 4The diminutive: -je, -tje, -pje, -etjeSmall, nice or simply friendly — and always a het word.
- Words first · 2en, maar, of, want: joining main clausesen, maar, of and want join two main clauses without changing the word order; dus and toch are different.
- Words first · 8Het regent, het lukt: sentences with hethet like English “it” — with weather, feelings, time and set phrases.
- Unit 8Adjectives and adverbs
- Words first · 2zo groot als, groter dan: comparingEqual: zo … als. Unequal: comparative + dan — not als.
- Words first · 8Betaald, vergeten, opgebeld: participles without ge- and with ge- in the middlebe-, ver-, ont-, her-, ge-, er- prevent ge-; separable verbs take ge- in the middle.
- Words first · 6 · 1/2Words first · 5 · 2/2maandag, tien mei: dates, weekdays, yearsWeekdays and months in lower case, the date with the cardinal number, the year in hundreds.
- Words first · 1Ik was me, hij vergist zich: reflexive verbsme, je, zich, ons — and some verbs are reflexive where English is not, and the other way round.
- Words first · 2Morgen werk ik: the present with a time wordAs in English: present plus a time word is enough for almost everything that is fixed.
- Words first · 5naar, uit, van, door: prepositions of directionnaar for “to”, uit and van for “out of” and “from”, door and langs for the route — and heen for “to” after waar.
- Words first · 5er is, er zijn: “there is” in DutchIf the subject is indefinite, the sentence starts with er — er is, er staat, er komt.
- A story to readEen briefje in de kelder · A2
- Unit 9Modal verbs and infinitives
- Words first · 3Je hoeft niet te komen: hoeven instead of moeten“You don’t have to” is je hoeft niet te; je moet niet means “you mustn’t”.
- Words first · 4iemand, niets, iedereen: indefinite pronounsiemand and niemand, iets and niets, elk and elke — and iedereen with the verb in the singular.
- Words first · 9Compound nouns: het fietspad, de slaapkamerIn one word, as in English “bedroom” — and the article comes from the last part.
- Where niet goes in the sentenceniet goes towards the back when it negates the whole sentence — but before what closes the sentence.
- Words first · 4Wat een mooie dag! Exclamations with wat, zo and zo’nwat een plus noun, wat plus adjective, zo’n and zulke — surprise, delight and annoyance in one sentence.
- Words first · 1snel, graag, liever, het liefst: the adjective as adverbThe adjective works unchanged as an adverb — and graag says what you like doing.
- Words first · 1Al, ooit, nog nooit: when to use the perfectThe perfect states what has happened — a single fact, an experience, a result.
- B1Explaining how things connect, giving reasons, reporting.
- Unit 10The passive
- Words first · 9Het wordt gemaakt: the passive with wordenworden plus the participle for what is being done to something; the person who does it comes with door.
- Words first · 2The subordinate clause: … omdat ik moe benAfter dat, omdat, als, toen and terwijl the conjugated verb goes to the end.
- Words first · 3Liep, ging, kwam, zag: the strong imperfectAnother vowel instead of an ending — often as in English, sometimes surprising.
- Words first · 2Proberen te, om … te: the infinitive with tete like “to”, om … te like “in order to” — and which verbs need it.
- Words first · 3er with quantities: Ik heb er tweeWhen a number or amount stands without its noun, the sentence needs er.
- Zou je me kunnen helpen? zou for politeness and wisheszou plus infinitive corresponds to “would” — for polite requests, wishes, advice and reports.
- Words first · 1Ze zit te lezen: zitten, staan, liggen, lopen + teA posture verb plus te plus infinitive: Ze zit te lezen (she is sitting there reading).
- Words first · 6Het is gemaakt: the perfect of the passiveis gemaakt means “has been made” — Dutch needs no word for “been” here.
- A story to readVacature: verzorgende in een woonzorgcentrum · B1
- Unit 11Sentence structure
- The verb group at the end: gezien heb or heb gezienAuxiliary and participle may come in either order; with three verbs the conjugated one comes first.
- Words first · 6 · 1/2Words first · 5 · 2/2een kilo, een ons, anderhalf: quantities and measuresMeasure words stay singular after a number, een ons is a hundred grams, and the comma stays a comma.
- Words first · 4Ik heb gegeten or ik at: imperfect or perfectThe perfect states that something has happened; the imperfect tells how it was.
- Words first · 8wachten op, denken aan: fixed prepositionsMany verbs have their own preposition — often not the one English has.
- Words first · 3Laten maken, laat maar, laten we: the verb latenlaten has things done, allows and suggests — laten we gaan means “let’s go”.
- Words first · 5die, dat, wie, wat: relative pronounsdie for de words and plurals, dat for het words, wie after a preposition, wat after alles and iets.
- Words first · 4iets moois, niets bijzonders: the adjective with -sAfter iets, niets, wat, veel and weinig the adjective takes -s.
- Words first · 2Er wordt gedanst: the impersonal passiveer + worden + participle when only the activity matters — like English “there is dancing”.
- A story to readStorm op de veerboot · B1
- Unit 12Sentence structure
- Words first · 2The indirect question: “Weet je of …?”A question inside a sentence becomes a subordinate clause: of for yes or no, otherwise the question word — and the verb goes to the end.
- Words first · 4erop, ermee, daaraan, waarmee: er with a prepositionFor things, er, daar or waar goes before a preposition — erop, ermee, waarover.
- Words first · 4Als ik tijd had, zou ik komen: the unreal conditionals plus the past tense, then zou plus infinitive — for what is not, but could be.
- Even, maar, eens, toch, hoor, wel, nou: the particlesWords with no meaning of their own that make a sentence sound friendly, impatient, reassuring or surprised.
- Ik had al gegeten: the pluperfecthad or was plus participle — for what had already happened before another event.
- Words first · 2Ik heb niet kunnen komen: the replacement infinitiveA modal verb with an infinitive turns into an infinitive itself in the perfect — ik heb niet kunnen komen.
- Words first · 2Men, je, ze: how to say “one”men is formal, je and ze are everyday — and often the passive is the better choice.
- Words first · 2Toen, als, wanneer: three words for “when”toen for a single event in the past, als for “if” and “when”, wanneer for “when?” and “whenever”.
- A story to readDe verhuizing · B1
The finish: the whole grammar
90 topics, from the first sentences to the finishing touches.
How to read the path. Every dot is a grammar topic; a click opens it. The colour of a dot is its category, the colour of the path is the difficulty — green and easy at the top, berry red and hard at the bottom. Within a level the categories follow one another, but you need not take them in order: you can work on a tense and on a topic from another category side by side.
On every topic page you can note how well it has sunk in — understood or not sure yet. The path shows it here and highlights the next open topic.
Your progress is kept only in your browser. Without JavaScript every topic is still listed, just without your progress.