Dutch

Introduction

Dutch Map Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by some 21 million people mostly in the Netherlands (Holland) and the northern half of Belgium (Flanders, including Belgium's capital Brussels). The variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium is known as Flemish. There is a dialect continuum between Dutch and Low German so that there is no clear boundary between the two languages. Some German dialects are closer to Dutch than they are to Standard German.

Windmill The word ' Dutch' comes from the old Germanic word theodisk that referred to the language spoken by the people as opposed to the official Latin. Theodisk became deutsch in modern German. In Dutch, theodisk became two different words: duits, meaning "German," and diets, meaning " Dutch, " a term no longer in use. Today, theodisk survives as tedesco, the Italian word for "German."

Prior to Holland's becoming an independent country in 1550, the English word 'Dutch' was used to refer to any Germanic language. To this day, descendants of German settlers in southeastern Pennsylvania are known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Belgium According to Ethnologue, Dutch is spoken by 12 million people in the Netherlands. The number of Dutch speakers worldwide is estimated at over 17 million people. Dutch is spoken by practically all inhabitants of the Netherlands and parts of Belgium, as well as in the northernmost part of France where it is called Vlaams (Flemish). On the Caribbean islands of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch is used along with Papiamento and English. It is also spoken as a first language by over half of the population of Suriname. Finally, there are also some speakers of Dutch in Indonesia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Dialects

children

The dialect picture is somewhat complicated since Dutch is spoken in two countries. As a result, at least two dialects:

Netherlands	Belgium
Low German spoken in Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel. Zuid-Gelders which is also spoken in the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany.	West Flemish which is also spoken in part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, and in a small area near Dunkirk, France, on the Belgian border. East Flemish
Netherlands and Belgium
Brabantian Limburgish

Flemish dialects are characterized by a large number of French loanwords, e.g., the Flemish word for "fork" is fourchette, instead of the Dutch vork.

Structure

Sound System

small girl

small boy

A distinguishing characteristic of the Dutch sound system is its large inventory of vowels and diphthongs.

Vowels	Consonants
There are 13 simple vowels. The vowels /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/ can be either long or short. There are 8 diphthongs.	There are 19 consonants. Final paired voiced consonants are devoiced, e.g., baazen "bosses" becomes baas "boss." This does not apply to sonorants m, n, l, r.

Stress
Stress in Dutch words usually falls on the first syllable but there are some exceptions.

Click here to listen to the pronunciation of Dutch vowels and consonants.

Grammar

dress

Man

Dutch grammar is simpler than that of German because Dutch lost noun and adjective declension, although it still retains some pronominal inflections, like English.

Nouns

Verbs

Dutch has two two genders – common and neuter.
There are two numbers: singular and plural, e.g., de lamp - de lampen, de computer - de computers.
There are two definite articles: de for common gender, e.g., de man "the man," and het for neuter gender, e.g., het huis "the house."
There is one indefinite article een, e.g., een man "a man," een huis "a house."
Adjectives that modify common nouns take the ending -e, e.g., een goede man vs. een goed huis "a good house."
Modifiers precede nouns, e.g., een goed huis "a good house."

There are two simple tenses: present and past, e.g., ik werk "I work," and ik werkte "I worked."In the past tense, weak verbs add –te for singular and –ten for plural: ik werkte "I worked," wij werkten "we worked." Strong verbs use umlaut (similar to Engliish), e.g., slap "sleep," sliep "slept," geslapen "slept."
Future is formed using the auxiliary verb zullen, e.g., ik zal slapen "I will sleep."
There are two aspects: perfective and imperfective. The perfective is formed with the auxiliary verb hebben, e.g., ik heb geslapen "I have slept," ik had geslapen "I had slept."
There are three moods: indicative, conditional, and imperative.
Conditional: ik zou slapen "I would sleep," ik zou geslapen hebben "I would have slept."
Imperative: slaap! "sleep! "

Click here for a Dutch verb conjugator.

Word order
Word order in Dutch is Subject-Verb-Object for main clauses, Subject-Object-Verb for subordinate clauses, and Verb-Subject-Object for interrogative sentences.

Click here for more examples of Dutch grammatical forms.

Vocabulary

Wooden Shoes

tulip

The vocabulary of Dutch is Germanic in origin, hence it is quite similar to that of other Germanic languages. Like German, Dutch is known for making building long words from native comonents. The number of borrowings from English is quite large and growing.

Below are some common Dutch words and phrases.

Hallo	Good day, hello
Tot ziens	Good bye
Alstublieft	Please
Dank u we	Thank you
Het spijt me	I am sorry
Ja	Yes
Nee	No
Man	Man
Vrouw	Woman

The Dutch numerals 1-10 are listed below.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
een	twee	drie	vier	vijf	zes	zeven	acht	negen	tien

Click here to listen to the pronunciation of some common phrases in Dutch.

Writing

Manuscript

Dutch is written with the Latin alphabet consisting of 26 letters. The Dutch alphabet was standardized in 1863, and revised and simplified in 1947, with many attempts at reform before and after.

Click here to listen to the names of the Dutch letters.

Aa

Bb

Cc

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Vv

Ww

X

Yy or
(IJij)

Zz

Qq, Xx, Yy are used mostly in loanwords.
Double vowels represent long vowels.
The diaeresis is used to mark vowels that are pronounced separately.
The acute accent occurs mainly in loanwords like café, but can also be used to differentiate words that are identical but for stress.
g represents a velar fricative similar to ch in Loch.
j represents y as in yet.
v represents f as in folk.
w represents v as in vale.
ch represents h as in hall.
sch represents sh as in ship.

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Dutch.

UNIVERSELE VERKLARING VAN DE RECHTEN VAN DE MENS
Artikel 1
Alle mensen worden vrij en gelijk in waardigheid en rechten geboren. Zij zijn begiftigd met verstand en geweten, en behoren zich jegens elkander in een geest van broederschap te gedragen.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Santa Claus

Sloop

Skates

Dutch words in English
English has many words of Dutch origin, too many to list here. Among them are:

Place names in New York City, such as Brooklyn (after the Dutch city Breukelen,) Harlem (from the name of a Dutch settlement in Manhattan Nieuw Haarlem, after the Dutch city Haarlem,), and Bowery (from bowerij “farm”); specifically the farm of Peter Stuyvesant, who bought most of the surrounding land in 1651. These names are reminders of the time when Manhattan was the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.
Nautical terms, e.g., ahoy, buoy, dock, cruise, freight, skipper, sloop.
Names of winter sports, e.g., skate, sled, sleigh.
Names of foods, e.g., Edam, Gouda, and Limburger cheese; waffle, cruller, scone.

English word	from Dutch
brandy	*brandewijn* "burnt wine," so called because it is distilled
frolic	*vrolyc* "happy," from vro- "merry, glad," + lyc "like."
gas	gas
gin	*genever* "juniper" (because the alcohol was flavored with its berries)
measles	masel "blemish"
landscape	landschap
pump	*pompe* "water conduit, pipe,"
roster	*rooster* "table, list,"
smuggle	smokkelen "to transport (goods) illegally,"
stoop	*stoep* "flight of steps, doorstep, stoop,"
stove	from M.L.G. or M.Du. stove, both meaning "heated room,"
wagon	wagen "wagon"
poppycock	probably from pappekak "soft dung"
Santa Claus	Sante Klaas
yankee	a disparaging name applied by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Dutch *Janke* "Little John," diminutive of Jan "John."

Resources

Click here to find out where Dutch is taught in the United States.
Click here to find learning materials for studying Dutch.

Online resources for the study of Dutch language and culture
Languages-on-the-Web: Dutch
Ethnologue entry for Dutch
Wikipedia article on Dutch
UCLA Language Profile for Dutch
Yamada Language Center Dutch resources
BBC Country Profile: Netherlands
BBC Country Profile: Belgium
Omniglot Dutch alphabet
Dutch Studies Web: Literature and Language
Dutch online grammar course