Almost everyone has a smartphone, so why not use it to learn Dutch? Let’s review the top apps for learning Dutch. Some have both a free and a paying option.
Top paying apps
Rosetta stone has an outstanding reputation for many languages, also thanks to their app you can try for free for 3 days.
LearnDutch.org‘s app costs $2,99 (price may change) and includes the 1000 most common words used plus pronunciation.
Mondly created an excellent app with many free features plus the possibility of paying for extra premium features.
Dutchpod101.com offers a few video language lessons for free but most of the content is paid. You can try their approach with some free apps.
Yep, you can learn with your smartphone too! Pro tip: switch the settings to Dutch.
Top free apps
Excellent and highly recommended is Nedbox.be. Read or watch news and answer the questions based on your level, not for absolute beginners though.
Duolingo is completely free and is an online leader with its multiple choice questions. A similar one is Babbel’s free Dutch learning application.
HelloTalk connects you with native speakers to simply chat.
Learn over 6000 words with this highly-rated app from FunEasyLearn.
To Learn Free has an uncountable number of quizzes on its old school website.
Head over to the Dutch Language Academy for grammar quizzes up to intermediate level.
Good texts up to intermediate level on Lingua.com‘s website.
There are many Dutch language schools in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The following schools offer Dutch classes in more than one city:
Berlitz offers individual and group lessons in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. Teachers can also come to your home or office and teach your kids. E-learn platform present, telephone and Skype lessons available. Normal face-to-face classes start at around 55 euro per hour.
Eurospeak gives Dutch private and group lessons in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent as well as at your home and via call. E-learning environment also present. Normal prices start at 50 euro per hour.
Lerian Nti is located in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent and also uses an e-learning environment. Phone and Skype lessons are also available. Prices upon request.
CVO, the Centre for Adult Education, offers many classes in too many locations in Flanders. A list of locations is here. One important advantage: normal group classes don’t cost more than a euro an hour.
Let’s see the language schools in the different cities.
In Ghent
The University of Ghent offers classes at all levels in many different groups. Prices depend on your status, e.g. students pay less. Full price is around 4 euro per hour. Private classes also available.
CVO offers extremely cheap group classes at around half a euro per hour. Mind you’ll get into groups coming from everywhere so progress may be slow.
Following classes in Het Perspectief is cheap too: only 1.5 euro per hour.
In Brussels
CLL is a non-profit organisation offering mainly group classes in Woluwe, Brussels. Both for kids and adults. The group lessons cost around 10 to 20 euro per hour. Private classes also available.
Callinter offers Dutch classes in Brussels in many ways: via Skype, via phone, via private and group classes. Kids can also follow lessons. Count around 15 to 20 euro an hour.
The Free University of Brussels or VUB offers group classes. Students can enroll from about 5 euro an hour. Others may enroll too.
The Europa Language School‘s prices start at around 40 euro an hour, transport to your home or company included. Up to 5 students per class.
The CPAB gives group classes from 8 to 16 persons. This governmental agency’s prices are maximum around 2 euro per hour.
OpenContext specialises in 1-to-1 classes, but also offers group classes. Price around 50 euro per hour.
In the Amira Language School, group classes and individual classes are offered as well as to your home or company. Prices start at around 50 euro per hour.
Languages in Brussels is a non-governmental organisation offering one-to-one classes and group classes. Prices on demand.
In Antwerp
Hello Languages offers individual and group classes. Contact them for prices.
The University of Antwerp gives group classes on its campus. Intensive and immersion courses. Price: less than 10 euro per hour. Or less if you have a special status, like a student.
Cosmolingua has both group and individual classes. Individual lessons start at around 50 euro per hour, group classes at 30 per person. Possibility to come to your company.
Some extra tips…
Make sure to ask your company if they can get you a language class. If you’re working for a small company, they may get special discounts at official language schools (in Dutch: via the KMO-portefeuille).
The Flemish government can help you finance your studies (in Dutch) under certain conditions. One important condition is that you worked for one year in the past two years in Belgium.
Don’t forget you can always find a private teacher online. I give Dutch lessons on italki and here’s $10 extra.
Ah, the Dutch pronunciation. Sounds without an equivalent in English. The diphthongs! And g? How do you start with that?
Let’s look in this language lesson how to pronounce ui, oe, uu, ij and ou. And of course, the classic g.
Mind, however, that this is the Flemish way of pronouncing these sounds. The pronunciation in the Netherlands is slightly different from the one in Belgium.
How do you say ‘I’m eating’ in Dutch? Or: I’m walking now? Yes, English speakers often use the present continuous: to be + verb + ing attached. But how do you use it in Dutch?
Simple:
Ik eet. (I’m eating)
Ik wandel nu. (I’m walking now)
Isn’t that the simple present? Yes.
Present continuous or not?
In Dutch, the present continuous isn’t used as often as in English. That’s why Dutch language teachers sometimes even forget to mention it. It is used to explicitly stress the verb.
When you use the present continuous, use to be + aan het + infinitive.
So if someone is calling you and you want to tell that person you’re eating and you’d like to diplomatically say you can’t speak for the moment, you can answer:
Ik ben aan het eten (I’m eating).
Ze is aan het lezen (she’s reading)
Or if you’re informing your son is walking, and he shouldn’t be disturbed:
Hij is aan het wandelen nu (He’s walking now).
And if you’re studying Dutch together (bonus points if you do) with some pals :
We zijn Nederlands aan het studeren nu (We’re studying Dutch now).
To ask a question with aan het, you can ask:
Wat ben je aan het doen? (What are you doing?)
Ik ben aan het dansen. (I’m dancing)
Note that the past continuous simply uses the past tense of to be:
Ik was aan het dansen (I was dancing).
Exercises
Translate the following with the present continuous:
How do you say ‘I like to dance’ in Dutch? If you ask this question as a beginner, your teacher will probably say it’s too soon. Why? Because ‘to like’ isn’t as easy in Dutch as it is in English.
No verb, no like
There is no specific verb for ‘to like’ in Dutch. At best, you can use ‘houden van.’ So, the translation would be:
Ik hou van dansen. (I like/love to dance)
But the literal translation is: I love to dance. Yes, houden van is to love. So it can also mean to like a lot, just as well as to love. To a loved one, you’d say:
Ik hou van jou. (I love you)
Graag: no verb
Dutch persons usually use ‘graag’ as a way to express they like something. Graag is no verb but it always stands with a verb. And to be more precise, usually just after the verb.
Ik dans graag. (I like to dance)
So if you’d like to make the sentence longer, you’ll add the words after graag:
Ik dans graag salsa met mijn vrienden. (I like to dance salsa with my friends)
If there is no verb, you use ‘hebben’, to have, with graag.
Ik heb graag kinderen. (I like kids)
Other uses of graag
Water? Graag!
Graag is also used for other purposes, which can be confusing. But here’s the other uses:
Yes in a polite way.
Politeness. Used in combination with zouden (would) or willen (want), or both zouden and willen.
Water, meneer? (water, mister)
Graag (yes, with pleasure)
En wat wil u drinken? (and what do you want to drink)
Ik zou graag een glas cola willen, alstublieft (I’d like a glass of cola, please)
So when an English-speaking student is learning the Dutch translation for ‘all’, all hell breaks loose. How do you explain to a student there are five (!) ways to translate ‘all’?
Let’s see them all:
Is that all?
All are here. (as in people)
All people are here.
All the people are here.
We are all here.
All as in everything
If you can replace the ‘all’ by everything, you use ‘alles’.
Is dat alles? (Is that all)
All as in everyone
If you can replace the ‘all’ by everyone, you use ‘allen.’ You can also use iedereen.
Allen zijn hier. (all are here)
All plus nouns
When you’re using all plus a noun, you use ‘alle.’ There’s nothing standing between de ‘all’ and the noun.
Alle mensen zijn hier. (all people are here)
All plus article plus nouns
If there’s an article or a pronoun (this, that) in between the all and the nouns, it’s ‘al.’
Al de mensen zijn hier. (all the people are here)
All or everything?
All separated from the noun
When all stands behind the noun, use ‘allemaal’. Allen can also be used in case of people.
We zijn allemaal hier. (we are all here)
Exercises
(words: de studenten, de leraars, werken met, naar België, was, het)
Enjoy the course and let me know what you liked and liked less!
Here’s the full description of the course:
Learn Dutch – this is the place to start learning Flemish online!
This is your opportunity! In this course, we start from zero. Indeed, zero. No previous knowledge needed. No expensive study books. We build on our way to learn Dutch, step by step. Learn at your own pace to translate Dutch, you can review the videos and redo the exercises any time, as much as you want! Learn Dutch online!
What can you expect?
Learning Dutch is difficult. Yes. So no unnecessary, 10-minute long Dutch grammar lessons with all the rules. Only what you need to know. Tips where you can find more Dutch language. Over 300 Dutch words to use in your everyday life. An interactive quiz at the end of each section, also about the Dutch vocabulary. Culture to understand Dutch better.
For who is this course?
You don’t understand Dutch, or barely. And you want to know how to speak Dutch. And it’s taught for you. Ready to start?
The level is Dutch A1 to Dutch A2.
During one of my online Dutch lessons, a student said this:
Het was een bezige week (= it was a busy week).
It’s a literal translation from English into Dutch. Due to the close relationship between the two languages, it’s a good tactic. However, in this case, it isn’t.
So I corrected my student:
Het was een drukke week.
But I couldn’t tell why. Yes, language teachers do not know everything. So I did some research and found interesting forum conversations on an amazing website. And here’s how it is:
Bezige bij or drukke bij?
Bezig is used for living things doing an activity. The result is that the living thing can’t do something else:
Jan, kan je me helpen? (= Jan, can you help me?)
Nee, ik ben bezig. (= No, I’m busy.)
So a week can’t be ‘bezig’. Because it’s not a living thing. Also, it’s not doing an activity. And that is why it’s a drukke week. Let’s do some exercises:
Fill in: druk/bezig (solution below)
Ben je met de afwas … ?
Het plein is … .
Jan is altijd zo’n … mens.
Op het werk is het altijd … .
Hij is … . Dus vraag het aan Sara.
(afwas = dishes, zo’n = such a)
Mind as well that you can use ‘druk bezig‘ as in very busy. Again, this is only for living things doing an activity.
Druk can also mean pressure. For example luchtdruk (= air pressure) and in stressful situations. And ‘bezet‘ means occupied. As in what you have to reply when you’re in the bathroom.
Fun fact: a busy bee is an expression also used in Dutch: een bezige bij. It’s a living thing and doing an activity.
As you’re learning your first Dutch words, you’ll come across an important topic: to say a sentence in the negative. For example: I don’t live in Germany:
Ik woon niet in Duitsland.
So, not is niet, right? Yes. And no. Because as you’re translating the next sentence: ‘I am not a German’, you won’t see a niet in:
Ik ben geen Duitser.
But you do see a geen appearing. So when do you use geen, and when niet? Well, it’s simple: if you can replace the not in English by a no, it’s geen. In the other cases, it’s niet. Let’s see our two examples:
I don’t live in Germany. I do no live in Germany = wrong, so it’s… Ik woon niet in Duitsland.
I am not a German. I am no German = right, so it’s… Ik ben geen Duitser.
That’s it. Also mind that a simple ‘no’ as in not a yes is translated as nee or neen.
