Not taught by professionals — taught by people who love the language
This is the course guide behind the Dutch lessons at Couchsurfing Utrecht. Nobody here is a certified Dutch teacher; it's a group of volunteers who wanted to share the language informally, at a pace that suits whoever shows up.
Twelve chapters carry you from your very first sentence to talking comfortably about the past. Each one pairs a set of useful phrases with one grammar point, a few exercises, and a small word list to learn — plus a Chapter 0 covering Dutch sounds and spelling before you start.
Below you'll find the full course structure, a quick-reference pronunciation guide, and a preview of Chapter 1 to try right now.
Four habits that make it stick
The course rewards a little self-direction. These are the things the original teachers ask every student to actually do.
Show up & sign in
Subscribe each time you come and fill in your course schedule — it's the only record of what you've covered.
Learn the words
Vocabulary is what makes a language usable. Learn each chapter's word list, and start your own alongside it.
Do the homework
Every chapter ends with a small real-world task — order a coffee, ask for directions, meet a Dutch speaker. That's where it sticks.
Practice beyond class
Dutch television, children's books, a patient friend. Use everything — a shortlist of good sites is at the bottom of this page.
The twelve chapters, at a glance
Each chapter is built around a real situation — ordering food, asking directions, talking about family — and teaches the grammar you need to handle it. Click any row to open the full chapter.
| # | Chapter | Grammar focus | Homework |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voorstellen Introducing yourself |
Articles, pronouns, present-tense verbs | Introduce yourself to someone in Dutch, then tell the class about them. |
| 2 | Winkel & tellen Shopping & counting |
Plurals, word order, questions, conjugation | Visit a shop, ask the names and prices of things, and bring the list to class. |
| 3 | Café / restaurant At the café |
"To have," adjectives, comparatives & superlatives | Order food or drinks somewhere and speak only Dutch with the staff. |
| 4 | De weg vragen Asking for directions |
Demonstratives, the imperative | Pick a destination and find it without a map — Dutch only. |
| 5 | Vakantie Holidays |
Simple past, irregular verbs | Prepare a short talk about your last holiday. |
| 6 | Familie Family |
Possessives, days & months | Draw your family tree in Dutch, with birthdays, and present it. |
| 7 | Vervoer Getting around |
Basic word order, telling the time | Plan a trip on 9292ov.nl and present it next class. |
| 8 | Aan tafel At the table |
Word order with objects, negation & subordinate clauses | Have a Dutch-only dinner with a Dutch speaker. |
| 9 | Hobby's Hobbies |
Diminutives | Talk to a Dutch person about their hobbies. |
| 10 | Het weer The weather |
Future tense, ordinal numbers | Bring a weather forecast and talk through it. |
| 11 | VVV The tourist office |
Word order with negation, inversion & "er" | Visit Utrecht's VVV and ask about a city that interests you — in Dutch. |
| 12 | Verleden The past |
The present perfect | Prepare a short talk about last week, or your own history. |
The sounds of Dutch
The Dutch alphabet looks just like English — the sounds behind the letters are where it gets interesting. Here's the quick-reference version — or see the full sounds & spelling chapter for the complete tables and notes.
Short & long vowels
| Short | Means | Long | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| a · man | man | aa · maan | moon |
| e · pen | pen | ee · peen | carrot |
| i · wil | want | ie · wiel | wheel |
| o · bom | bomb | oo · boom | tree |
| u · mus | sparrow | uu · muur | wall |
Diphthongs
| Spelling | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| ij / ei | "i" in dike |
| au / ou | "ow" in cow |
| ui | French "eui" (fauteuil) |
| eu | German ö / French eu |
| oe | "oo" in hood |
Key consonants
| Letter | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| ch, g | Scottish "ch" in loch |
| w | English "v" (word-initial) |
| j | English "y" |
| r | rolled, like Spanish "rr" |
Four things worth knowing before you start
- Long vowels double mid-word (aa, ee, oo, uu) but stay single when they end a syllable or the word.
- Short vowels stay single — but the next consonant doubles if another vowel follows: man → mannen.
- "b" and "d" are pronounced like "p" and "t" at the end of a word.
- A final "e," and the endings -lijk and -ig, sound like the "e" in unstressed "the."
Voorstellen — Introducing yourself
The phrases and verbs that get you through your first conversation in Dutch. This is the short version — the full chapter also has the grammar notes, exercises, and complete word list.
Grammar note — de, het & een
Dutch nouns take de or het for "the" — there's no simple rule for which, so it's worth learning each noun with its article. "A" is always een. In speech, het often shortens to 't, and een to 'n.
werken to work
| ik werk | I work |
| jij / u werkt | you work |
| hij/zij werkt | he/she works |
| wij werken | we work |
| jullie werken | you (pl) work |
| zij werken | they work |
wonen to live
| ik woon | I live |
| jij / u woont | you live |
| hij/zij woont | he/she lives |
| wij wonen | we live |
| jullie wonen | you (pl) live |
| zij wonen | they live |
zijn to be
| ik ben | I am |
| jij / u bent | you are |
| hij/zij is | he/she is |
| wij zijn | we are |
| jullie zijn | you (pl) are |
| zij zijn | they are |
Websites worth bookmarking
Nothing here is used in class, but every one of these is genuinely useful between lessons.
Dutch Grammar
Detailed, well-organised grammar reference for whenever a chapter leaves you with questions.
Learn Dutch
A free online course with thorough grammar explanations that pair well with this one.
Mijnwoordenboek
A solid online Dutch dictionary for looking up anything the word lists don't cover.
Digital Dialects
Short vocabulary games — several line up with chapters in this very course.
Verbix Conjugator
Type any Dutch verb and get every conjugation, every tense, instantly.
Wikibooks: Dutch
A free, community-written course to cross-reference against this one.
All 12 chapters are online
Every chapter — 0 through 12 — is now a full page: every sentence, every grammar explanation, every exercise, and every word list from the original course guide. Use the number links at the top of any page to jump around, or start at Chapter 0 and work straight through.