A1 · Dutch

Dutch from zero to A1

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Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands, from zero to A1, taught in English: letters and sounds — g and ch, long and short vowels, ui, eu, ij and ie, stress; meeting people with je and u, zijn, the articles de, het and een, countries, languages and the present tense. Then numbers, phone numbers, work and family with hebben, possessives, telling time, days and dates, the café, the negative geen, inversion and making plans to meet; shopping, hobbies with graag, modal verbs, the restaurant, adjectives, colors and clothes. Then comparisons, home and town, prepositions of place, directions and the imperative, your day with separable verbs, the perfectum, the doctor, the weather and your weekend; extras — the phone, the gemeente and holidays; and real-life scenes — café, market and supermarket, the station and the bike, the doctor and the pharmacy.

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Module 0. Letters and sounds

Lesson 1. The alphabet and consonants: g, ch, sch, w, v, z, h, j

15 exercises · I can read a Dutch word with g, ch, sch, w, h, and j without saying the g of English “go”, recognize the letters by their names, and type a word without a Dutch keyboard.

Lesson 2. Long and short vowels: open and closed syllables

14 exercises · I can hear whether a vowel is long or short, decide from the syllable whether to write one letter or two, and say u without English “oo” or “uh”.

Lesson 3. Vowel combinations: oe, ui, eu, ij / ei, au / ou, ie

14 exercises · I can read oe as the oo of “food”, keep it apart from u and uu, say ui and eu, which English doesn't have, and remember which words have ij and which have ei.

Lesson 4. Final devoicing, the schwa, stress, and marks over letters

14 exercises · I can write d at the end of a word even when I hear t, read the weak e in de, -en, and be-, ge-, ver-, put the stress on the right syllable with no mark to guide me, and understand what the two dots in België mean.

Module 1. Meeting people

Lesson 1. Hallo! Greetings, je and u

18 exercises · I can say hello and goodbye in the morning, afternoon, and evening, ask “how are you?” and answer, say thank you, apologize, and say no — and choose je or u depending on who I'm talking to.

Lesson 2. Ik ben Anna: subject pronouns and zijn

18 exercises · I can say who I am and who others are, say how I feel and whether I'm married, and ask about it — with the verb zijn in every person and with niet.

Lesson 3. Wat is dat? The articles de, het, and een

16 exercises · I can name things on the course with the right article, de or het, ask “what's that?” and answer “that's a …” — with een when something is mentioned for the first time.

Lesson 4. Waar kom je vandaan? Countries, people, and languages

16 exercises · I can say where I'm from and which languages I speak, ask the person I'm talking to, and name the country, the language, and the people of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia.

Lesson 5. Ik woon in New York: the present tense

16 exercises · I can say where I live and work and what I'm learning, reading, and writing — and spell the verb correctly for any person: ik woon, hij woont, wij wonen.

Lesson 6. Waar woon je? Questions and where the verb goes

18 exercises · I can ask someone I've just met where they live and work, what they're learning, and where they're from, and answer them; I won't say “Werkt jij?”

Lesson 7. Module 1 review

17 exercises · I can greet people with je and with u, say who I am and where I'm from, name a thing with its article, say what I do, and ask a question.

Module 2. Numbers, work, and family

Lesson 1. Hoe spel je dat? The alphabet, numbers 0–20, and phone numbers

17 exercises · I can spell out my first and last name, say and write the numbers from zero to twenty, and give my phone number and address.

Lesson 2. Wat doe je? Jobs, gaan and doen, and niet with the verb

17 exercises · I can say what I do and where I work or study, ask the person I'm talking to about it, and say what I don't do.

Lesson 3. Ik heb een broer: hebben and the family

15 exercises · I can say who is in my family, ask the person I'm talking to about brothers, sisters, and children, and say whether someone is married.

Lesson 4. Mijn moeder, jouw broer: possessives

15 exercises · I can say whose thing or whose relative it is — mijn, jouw, zijn, haar, ons, onze, hun — and describe a person: tall, young, nice.

Lesson 5. Ik ben vierendertig: numbers up to a thousand, and age

13 exercises · I can say a number up to a thousand and understand it by ear, say how old I am, and ask someone's age.

Lesson 6. Hoe laat is het? Telling time and the days of the week

17 exercises · I can ask and say what time it is, give the time of a meeting — om half acht, van negen tot vijf — and say the day of the week.

Lesson 7. Module 2 review

16 exercises · I can spell out a name and a number, talk about my work and what I don't do, about my family and my age, say whose thing it is, and say what time it is.

Module 3. The calendar, the café, and the week

Lesson 1. Wanneer ben je jarig? Months, seasons, dates, and ordinal numbers

17 exercises · I can name the months and seasons, say a date and when my birthday is, and say “first, second, twentieth”.

Lesson 2. Een kopje koffie, graag: at a café, and diminutives

17 exercises · I can order a drink and a snack at a café, say “I'll have …” and “can I have …?”, tell “one coffee” from “a coffee”, and I know that a word ending in -je always takes het.

Lesson 3. Ik heb geen tijd: the negative geen

16 exercises · I can say “I don't have time / money” and “it's not a problem”, turn something down, and say “I'm cold”, “I'm hungry”, and “I'm thirsty” in Dutch.

Lesson 4. Morgen werk ik: inversion after time words

18 exercises · I can talk about my week — what I do today, tomorrow, in the morning, and in the evening — starting the sentence with a time word and putting the verb second.

Lesson 5. Zullen we naar de film gaan? Making plans to meet

17 exercises · I can suggest going somewhere together, accept or politely decline, suggest another day — and say what I'm going to do.

Lesson 6. Twee appels, drie peren: the plural

16 exercises · I can name fruits and vegetables — one and several — and spell the plural correctly: peren, druiven, appels, paprika's.

Lesson 7. Module 3 review

18 exercises · I can check what I've learned: giving a date, ordering at a café, saying no, talking about my week, making plans to meet, and saying “one” or “more than one”.

Module 4. Shopping, tastes, and clothes

Lesson 1. Hoeveel kost het? At the market and in the store

18 exercises · I can ask how much something costs, say a price in words — twee euro vijftig — buy a kilo, a bottle, or a bag, answer the salesclerk's Anders nog iets?, and say that I'm paying by card.

Lesson 2. Ik zwem graag: hobbies and graag

16 exercises · I can say what I like and don't like doing — Ik zwem graag, ik dans niet graag — how often I do it, and ask the person I'm talking to about it.

Lesson 3. Ik wil, ik kan, ik moet: modal verbs

16 exercises · I can say what I want to, can, and have to do, and what is allowed: Ik wil morgen koffie drinken, ik kan niet komen, mag ik even bellen? — and answer Dat hoeft niet.

Lesson 4. Wat vind je lekker? At a restaurant

18 exercises · I can ask for the menu and the check, order a dish, and say what I think of the food: Ik vind de kip lekker, de soep is te zout — and spell hij vindt correctly.

Lesson 5. Een groot land, de grote stad: the adjective ending -e

14 exercises · I can describe a thing, a city, or a dish with an adjective before the noun — de grote stad, een groot land, grote steden — and exclaim Wat een mooie stad!

Lesson 6. Welke maat heeft u? Colors and clothes

18 exercises · I can name clothes and colors — een rode jas, een wit shirt — ask with welke and welk, answer Welke maat heeft u?, ask to try something on, and say: De jas? Hij past.

Lesson 7. Module 4 review

18 exercises · I can say a price, say what I like doing and what I like the taste of, say what I can do and what I'm allowed to do, describe a thing, and ask with welke — in new sentences.

Module 5. Home, town, and getting around

Lesson 1. Groter dan Utrecht: the comparative and the superlative

16 exercises · I can compare two cities, two things, and two prices (groter dan, even duur als) and say what's best and what I like doing most (het best, het liefst).

Lesson 2. Ik zie hem: object pronouns and houden van

18 exercises · I can say who I see, know, and love, and who I call (Ik zie hem, Ik bel je, Ik hou van jou), and replace a thing with hem or het according to its article.

Lesson 3. Hoe woon je? Home, rooms, and furniture

18 exercises · I can describe my home: which rooms there are, what's in them, which floor it's on; ask about an apartment (Is er een balkon?); and write a short listing.

Lesson 4. Waar ligt het park? Prepositions of place and verbs of position

17 exercises · I can say where a thing lies, stands, or hangs and where a place is in town (Het park ligt achter het huis), and ask: Waar is…? Waar ligt…?

Lesson 5. Deze stoel of die? The words for “this” and “that”, and hier / daar

16 exercises · I can choose a thing in a store and at home — deze lamp hier or die lamp daar, dit bed or dat bed — and use the right word for the article and number.

Lesson 6. Hoe kom ik bij het station? Directions, transportation, and the imperative

18 exercises · I can ask for directions (Hoe kom ik bij het station?), understand them, and give them myself: Ga rechtdoor, neem de tweede straat links — with je, and formally with u.

Lesson 7. Module 5 review

18 exercises · I can review the module: compare apartments, say who I know and what I like, describe where things stand and lie, choose “this” or “that”, and give directions.

Module 6. The day, the past, health, and the weather

Lesson 1. Ik sta om zeven uur op: separable prefixes

18 exercises · I can say what time I get up, leave, and come home, and put the separable prefix in its place: Ik sta om zeven uur op — Ik moet vroeg opstaan.

Lesson 2. Ik heb gewerkt: the perfectum with hebben, and the past participle

16 exercises · I can say what I've already done and what I did yesterday, last week, and last year, and spell the past participle correctly: gewerkt, gewoond, gereisd.

Lesson 3. Ik ben gegaan: irregular past participles and the perfectum with zijn

16 exercises · I can say where I went, where I was, and what I ate, drank, and read: Ik ben naar Leiden gegaan, Ik heb een boek gelezen.

Lesson 4. Wat is er aan de hand? At the doctor's: the body and how you feel

18 exercises · I can tell a doctor what hurts and since when, understand the doctor's questions, and wish a sick person a quick recovery.

Lesson 5. Het regent: the weather

15 exercises · I can say what the weather is like today and what it was like yesterday, how many degrees it is, and understand a short forecast by ear.

Lesson 6. Wat heb je in het weekend gedaan? Telling about your weekend: en, maar, of, want

18 exercises · I can say in 4–6 sentences how my weekend went, link the events with en, maar, want, eerst, daarna — and ask the other person what they did.

Lesson 7. Module 6 review

15 exercises · I can review the module: talk about my day and about yesterday, choose hebben or zijn, tell a doctor what hurts, describe the weather, and link a story with want and daarna.

Module 7. A1 extras

Lesson 1. Pardon? Asking again, making a call, writing a message

18 exercises · I can ask someone to repeat or speak more slowly, answer the phone and make a call myself, ask for someone on the phone, ask for a callback, and understand a short message with m'n, z'n, d'r.

Lesson 2. Wanneer is de gemeente open? Services, opening hours, and forms

17 exercises · I can ask when an office is open, understand opening hours and signs, make an appointment, pick up a package at the post office, tell a bank from a sofa, and fill out a form: street, house number, ZIP code, and city.

Lesson 3. Gefeliciteerd! Holidays and good wishes

17 exercises · I can congratulate someone and their family on a birthday, wish someone good luck or a quick recovery or say “stay strong”, reply to “Prettig weekend!”, and name the main holidays in the Netherlands with their dates.

Module 8. A1 practice

Lesson 1. In het café en het restaurant

17 exercises · I can take a free table at a Dutch café, order a drink and a dish, answer “coffee or tea?”, ask about a dish and praise it, ask for the check, and pay by card.

Lesson 2. Op de markt en in de supermarkt

16 exercises · I can ask the price per kilo and per item at a market and in a supermarket, say how much I want, answer the salesclerk's “anything else?”, ask for something cheaper, find the checkout, and answer the question about a bag.

Lesson 3. Op het station: met de trein en de fiets

17 exercises · I can buy a ticket to another city at the station, find out when and from which track the train leaves, check in and out with a bank card, understand the departures board, transfers, and signs, and bike to the station.

Lesson 4. Bij de huisarts en de apotheek

16 exercises · I can make an appointment with the family doctor by phone, say what hurts and since when, understand the doctor's advice, buy medicine with a prescription at the pharmacy, and wish a sick person a quick recovery.