Basic Dutch Words
These words appear in almost every Dutch sentence. One of them, alsjeblieft, does two jobs that English keeps separate.
The first ten
-
ja
yah
-
yes
-
nee
nay
-
no
-
alsjeblieft
als-yuh-BLEEFT
-
please
Also here you are. alstublieft is the formal form
-
dank je
dank yuh
-
thank you
dank u to someone you call u
-
misschien
mis-KHEEN
-
maybe
-
sorry
SOH-ree
-
sorry
-
goed
khoot
-
good
-
slecht
slekht
-
bad
-
heel
hayl
-
very
erg means the same
-
een beetje
un BAY-chuh
-
a little
People
-
ik
ik
-
I
-
jij
yay
-
you
je is the unstressed everyday form
-
u
uu
-
you
Formal, and used more sparingly than in German
-
hij
hay
-
he
-
zij
zay
-
she
-
wij
vay
-
we
we is the unstressed form
-
zij
zay
-
they
Small words that hold a sentence together
-
en
en
-
and
-
of
of
-
or
-
maar
mahr
-
but
-
ook
ohk
-
also
-
met
met
-
with
-
zonder
ZON-dur
-
without
-
hier
heer
-
here
-
daar
dahr
-
there
-
nu
nuu
-
now
Everyday things
-
het water
ut VAH-tur
-
water
-
het eten
ut AY-tuh
-
food
-
het huis
ut hoys
-
house
-
de vriend
duh vreent
-
friend
de vriendin for a female friend
-
groot
khroht
-
big
-
klein
klayn
-
small
Alsjeblieft, and de or het
Alsjeblieft means please, and it also means here you are when handing something over. A waiter putting your coffee down will say it, and no request is involved.
Every noun takes either de or het, and there is no reliable way to guess which. Roughly two thirds are de words. Learn het huis and de vriend as whole units rather than trying to work it out.
Alsjeblieft goes with jij and alstublieft goes with u. Same word, different you inside it, exactly like the French s'il te plaît and s'il vous plaît.
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