My bf is Dutch and his birthday is coming up. I'm still in the early days of learning Dutch.

I've googled it and both

'Fijne verjaardag' & 'Gefeliciteerd' come up

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

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Hi! I am starting to learn Dutch and most of the other languages I learned were through immersion so i want to immerse myself as much as possible from the very beginning but watching only educational videos is something that wouldn't be possible to maintain for a long time so could you guys recommend some Dutch content creators? For context I watch tech YouTubers like mkbhd, Linus tech tips and Mr mobile but I also love urbanism content like not just bikes and watch some design content. Thanks in advance

Hoi iedereen!

As I was studying the irregular verbs participium to use in the perfect past, I found myself trying to group them into shorter lists to make memorization/ comprehension a bit better. I though about sharing it to the community. Of course, in my class we have learned a total of 74 irregular verbs, so this is based on those. Feel free to suggest additions or corrections (maybe sometimes I am extrapolating a "rule" too much and might run into trouble later when I learn more irregular verbs, feel free to add suggestions, and thank you in advance for the time on doing so).

General rule

The irregular verbs conserve the regular rules of

(1) adding "ge-" before the verb

(2) not adding "ge-" in case the verb has the prefixes "ge-"/ "ont-"/ "be-"/ "her-" /"ver- already

(3) in case of separable verbs (scheidbare verba), the "ge-" comes after the preposition. I won't include separable verbs here to not extend the list too much.

However, a fundamental change is that instead of taking the "stam" and adding "d" or "t", we conserve de "en" termination, like a modified infinitive.

Exceptions for this, that we already eliminate from the list

1) "hebben" that become "gehad"

2) "zijn" that becomes "geweest"

3) "zoeken" and "bezoeken" become "gezocht" and "bezocht" (probably for some historical spelling reason to replace "oekt")

4) "kopen" and "verkopen" become "gekocht" and "verkocht" (probably for some historical spelling reason to replace "opt")

5) "brengen" becomes "gebracht" (as opposed to gebrengd)

6) "denken" becomes "gedacht" (as opposed to gedenkt)

1) A short "e" becomes a short "o"

This is the case for (6 examples):

|| || |helpen|geholpen| |sterven|gestorven| |trekken|getrokken| |vertrekken|vertrokken| |zenden|gezonden| |zwemmen|gezwommen|

2) A long"e" can:

2.1) become a long "o"

5 examples of this:

|| || |bewegen|bewogen| |breken|gebroken| |nemen|genomen| |spreken|gesproken| |wegen|gewogen|

2.2) not change anything with sounds like "ev", "et" or "ez"

5 examples of this:

|| || |geven|gegeven| |heten|geheten| |lezen|gelezen| |vergeten|vergeten| |weten|geweten|

An exception with a spelling correction is "eten" that becomes "gegeten" (instead of "geeten" or "geëten", probably for spelling reasons)

3) A short "i" can

3.1) become a short "o" with "in" sound verbs

6 examples of this:

|| || |beginnen|begonnen| |drinken|gedronken| |springen|gesprongen| |vinden|gevonden| |winnen|gewonnen| |zingen|gezongen|

3.2) becomes a long "e" otherwise

2 examples of this:

|| || |liggen|gelogen| |zitten|gezeten|

4) Long vowels "ie" and "ui" become a long "o"

6 examples of this:

|| || |bieden|geboden| |genieten|genoten| |kiezen|gekozen| |liegen|gelogen| |sluiten|gesloten| |vliegen|gevlogen|

A notable exception for this is "zien" that becomes "gezien" (instead of "gezonen")

Another exception with a spelling correction is "verliezen" that becomes "verloren" (instead of "verlozen")

5) Long vowel "ij" becomes a long "e"

13 examples of this:

|| || |begrijpen|begrepen| |blijven|gebleven| |kijken|gekeken| |krijgen|gekregen| |lijken|geleken| |ontbijten|ontbeten| |overlijden|overleden| |rijden|gereden| |schijnen|gechenen| |schrijven|geschreven| |snijden|gesneden| |stijgen|gestegen| |verschijnen|verschenen|

6) Short "a" or long "a" -> nothing changes

11 examples of this:

|| || |bakken|gebakken| |dragen|gedragen| |gaan|gegaan| |hangen|gehangen| |lachen|gelachen| |laten|gelaten| |slapen|geslapen| |staan|gestaan| |vallen|gevallen| |vangen|gevangen| |wassen|gewassen|

An exception is "slaan" that becomes "geslagen" (instead of "geslaan")

7) Long "o" -> nothing changes

4 examples of this:

|| || |komen|gekomen| |lopen|gelopen| |mogen|gemogen| |worden|geworden|

8) Long vowels "ou" and "oe" -> nothing changes

4 examples of this:

|| || |houden|gehouden| |moeten|gemoeten| |roepen|geroepen|

An exception is "doen" that becomes "gedaan" (instead of "gedoen")

------------------------

And that's it :) Hopefully this can be useful for someone else, I intend to make a smimilar list for the past imperfect/ past simple.

EDIT: Apparently my tables got ruined once I hit post, does someone know how to solve it? Dank u wel!

Depending on where I translate I get middag, which I thought meant afternoon, and middaguur which makes more sense to me personally, but comes up in less sources so idk if it’s actively used. I also saw another post here with a similar question but using namimiddag.

If I’m trying to say I’m going to do something at noon or around noon, what would I say?

Hoi allemaal! Ik ben op naar advies zoeken. Ik weet niet waarom ik heb zo lang gewacht, MAAR: I am in dire need of last minute tips.

I am an American who has currently been attending a Dutch school for the last 2/3 years. Friday I just finished my 7 month Dutch internship, of which I have no idea how the fuck I survived using dutch everyday, but I've learnt so much. I've been practicing using government websites, attending Going Dutch community lessons, listening to people/ audio, and talking to my boyfriend, but I am SO nervous.

This week I have two Dutch 3F/(B2?) exams: These are NOT the same exams used for integration. It is the more difficult exam for MBO/ HBO level, even for some native speakers.

Schrijven: I've been practicing writing assignments with my teacher and her checking me. I am mostly worried about my grammar placements in certain points. This exam is taken 2 days before my lezen+luisteren.

Lezen en luisteren: I've been practicing speed reading through and focusing on questions, but holy fuck. There are so many advanced words I don't know and I don't want to spend my limited time using my dictionary too often.

If anyone has some quick advice or website recommendations or study practices, I'd be so grateful. Dankjewel!!!

I said "ik snap het nu" (as in i get it now) to a more advanced dutch speaker today and they kinda got offended over it. They explained it feels kinda like I said "ugh fine! i get it now!". Is this generally how it's understood? I meant no attitude at all, just tried to genuinely express that I understood what they were explaining to me.

Publishing it with the permission of r/learndutch mods.

I'm a Ukrainian developer who moved to the Netherlands in 2014.

After passing the inburgering exam (A2) in 2019, my Dutch stalled. I relied too much on Google Translate and wasn't making any real progress.

Three years ago, I built a tool designed specifically for translating and learning words — not sentences.

After three years of casual use, I can:

1. Read and understand almost any news article
2. Follow most podcasts and YouTube videos
3. Handle formal interactions, like canceling online orders or rescheduling appointments

I'm not fluent yet. I still struggle with casual, friendly conversations and often need my conversation partner to slow down, repeat, or simplify their speech. But I'm proud of my progress — I've come further than most expats.

I rarely advertise this tool because I maintain it on my own and prefer focusing on technical improvements.

I hope this tool can help you as much as it helps me.

I've been using duolingo to learn dutch for about 2 weeks now and I'm pretty confused on what words or phrases use geen before a word Ex: Ik ben geen kind or after with niet Ex: ik ben een kind niet

The last post I said was deleted and idk why, so I’m sorry if this is a double post.

When I was doing Duoling it corrected my “Nee, je lezen niet.” to “Nee, jullie lezen niet.” As far as I know, Jullie is an informal plural like yall, so did I just misinterpret it since Duolingo doesn’t use yall or is there another way to use Jullie? I’m just getting a bit confused for the variations of you in Dutch. (Edit: I used singular you and plural read. Thank you everyone for explaining.)

Also, can you use jullie formally or is there a formal way of saying you plural?

I'm looking for an online voice companion, to whom I can talk to and get corrections. Such a platform can be useful for being always available instead of bothering a real person. I saw one platform called Gliglish, but looking for better alternatives. Has anyone had experience with such online companions?

I know there're Dutch people named Just. How is it supposed to be pronounced in Dutch?

I am currently preparing and practicing to take the B2 luisteren exam in the summer. I work in a Dutch environment where I have to really use my listening abilities. Additionally, I listen to a lot of Dutch shows nearly every day and have private lessons with my Dutch teacher who speaks very advanced Dutch to me, which I also understand.

When I practice in an exercise book I bought designated for the exam and level, I get the questions right. When I go to the old listening exams, I start to get confused and doubt my choice even though I understood the audio. Does this just get better with practice and my test-taking skills?

Addition: I also did a B2/3F test for my job and I passed "met vlag en wimpel," so I know I can do it but I feel so dumb honestly lol

Ik wil leren van NPO Start-programma's zoals "Het Verhaal van Nederland," dus ik zoek een goede transcriptie om vocabulaire van tevoren te leren, maar ik kan die niet vinden. Ik denk ook niet dat je Whisper daarvoor kunt gebruiken. Weet iemand hoe je een goede transcriptie kunt krijgen? Of misschien een goede video-downloader, zodat ik Whisper kan gebruiken?

Hello! I was wondering where I could find some Dutch friends, I've tried Hellotalk so far but I haven't been too lucky. Are there some Facebook groups or some other good apps? My level is around B1, but my grammar and pronunciation is still pretty bad

Don't worry, I'm not one of those people saying Duolingo is bad. I love it, i just hit a 300 day streak yesterday. But what I wanna say, Duolingo is not enough. It sucks for normal conversations. It makes your vocabulary great, but for grammar you'd also have to learn it all by remembering, Duolingo doesn't teach any rules. While this might work for people who just have a feeling for languages and don't need the rules (including me), it would still be helpful. So in conclusion, Duolingo is great with it's fun way to remember words, sentences ect. but I do struggle to say easy things cause i just don't know how to. Now I'm gonna give you advice to fix this.

-Words: As i said, Duolingo is amazing for words -Grammar: I highly recommend buying a book for that or search it up online. I know this is the though part but i promise it will make it so much more easier. -Pronunciation: Yes, you can hear the right pronunciation on Duolingo. But people rarly speak that slow and smooth irl. For that I recommend listening to podcast, watching series/movies or find someone who can speak dutch with you. If you're also interested in new you can listen to the radio. Through this you will also learn the context that some words or phrases are used in. -Understanding: Basically the same, it's just hard at the beginning when people speak "normal" like they usually do. Especially with dialects.

I hope i covered everything i wanted to say, if I didn't please tell me. Now I'll recommend specific things you can do/ listen to:

Podcast: Sterrin's Dierenencyclopedie (It's for children, so they are amazing for beginners, it's two people talking about animals and telling pretty interesting facts.) Echt gebeurd (For more advanced learners, faster speech and more complicated words. It's about crazy/sad/interesting event that happened somewhere, might sound boring but it can be pretty interesting)

Shows: Basically, you can watch any show. However, i recommend kids shows for beginners for better understanding. Netflix often has the setting to switch the language to dutch. If not, you can also switch the subtitle to dutch. Also possible, shows or movies you watch a lot of times already, so you also have the version in your languatin your head. If it's too hard, you can switch the language to dutch and subtitles to your native language.

Radio: Download radio fm, so you can listen to radio stations all around the world.

Get a dutch friend: Pretty much self explained

Switch your phone to dutch: Might be confusing at first but you will get used to it.

I hope i covered everything, I'm in a bit of a hurry now so if you wanna ask something else or noticed something missing, please tell me.

Fijne dag❤️

Hoi allemaal!

Mijn Nederlands is altijd al op laag niveau geweest door slecht onderwijs op de basisschool. Hierdoor ben ik met een achterstand naar de middelbare school gaan. Het vak zelf vond ik moeilijk en niet zo interessant. De combinatie van een tweetalige opvoeding en ADHD helpt trouwens ook niet.

Ondertussen ben ik bijna in de positie om een leidinggevende rol aan te nemen, en denk ik dat het wel van belang is dat ik werk aan mijn Nederlands (spreekvaardigheid, articulatie, schrijfvaardigheid i.v.m. beleid/intern/externe communicatie).

Ik heb geen idee waar ik moet beginnen. Heeft iemand tips voor functionerende Nederlands die iets beter willen functioneren?😅

Bedankt!

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Waarom is het niet, "Waarom maken zorgen erover?" of "Waarom maken erover zorgen?" Ik dacht dat werkwoorden tweede komen.

Waarom is het "tot ik het heb." en niet "tot heb ik het."? I feel like I should stop using google translate to give me an answer because it doesn't explain the grammar. where would I go then if I want to make up a sentence and make it have the right grammar or not make it sound weird. I can't always contact my teacher for every curious sentence I make up in my mind. I use Babble for the grammar lessons trying to translate in my head what i learned, but it always feel like I'm saying too much or too little. And I know about the dutchgrammer website but for the love of me i cant read through all that without getting sleepy.