Dutch Language Guide

Official language in
Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

The Kingdom of the Netherlands comprises the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. In the Netherlands, administrative bodies and the people working under their responsibility are required by law to use Dutch, unless a legal provision states otherwise. Belgium also has Dutch as one of its languages: the country comprises four language areas — the Dutch language area, the French language area, the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital, and the German language area. Outside acts of public authority and judicial matters, the use of the languages spoken in Belgium is free; for those two areas it can be regulated only by law. Outside the Kingdom, Dutch is the language of instruction in every school in Suriname, a South American country. Within the Kingdom's Caribbean countries, Dutch was the only officially recognized language until the start of this century, and it still dominates administration and education there, even though a local language is most residents' mother tongue: Papiamento on Aruba and Curaçao, and a local variety of English-based creole on Sint Maarten.

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Script & pronunciation

Dutch is written in the Latin alphabet. Two spelling-to-sound points are worth knowing before reading a card aloud. This app's card about the Van Gogh Museum notes that in Dutch, "Van Gogh" is pronounced with a guttural "g," very different from the English pronunciation of the name. This app's card for counting from four to six notes that "vijf" (five) is pronounced close to "fayf."

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Grammar essentials

Dutch main clauses have verb-second (V2) word order: the finite verb occupies second position, whichever element of the sentence comes first. This app's card about an approaching storm illustrates the pattern: "Er komt een storm aan" ("A storm is approaching") places the finite verb "komt" second, right after the introductory "er"; the separable verb's other part, the particle "aan," goes to the end of the clause instead of staying attached to "komt." In subordinate clauses introduced by "dat" ("that"), the verb moves to the end of the clause instead, as in this app's card "Het is de eerste keer dat ik hier ben" ("It's my first time here"), where "ben" ("am") comes last; another of this app's cards states the same rule directly, noting verb-final order in "dat" subordinate clauses. Dutch also has two ways to negate, depending on what is negated. "Niet" negates a verb or a whole statement, as in this app's card "Ik begrijp het niet" ("I don't understand"). "Geen" negates an indefinite noun, as in this app's card "Ik heb geen reservering" ("I don't have a reservation"), whose own note states that negating a noun uses "geen," not "niet."

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Politeness & etiquette

Dutch distinguishes a polite second-person pronoun, "u," from the informal "jij" or "je." This app's card for "u" describes it as the safe choice with strangers, shop staff, and other people you address politely; the same card notes that the informal form is "jij" or "je," that colloquial Flemish also widely uses "gij" or "ge," and that "u" is never rude in either country. This app's card for a formal thank-you, "Dank u wel," uses the formal "u"; the same card notes that "Dank je wel," using informal "je," is used for friends. Dutch verb paradigms likewise set "u" apart as a distinct honorific second-person form alongside the ordinary "jij."

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