Learn Dutch

I want to learn Dutch from a philological perspective. I have acquired some technical courses about it but I really want to get in contact with online resources that have books ( readers ) like those of Roald Dahl or the Grimm brothers, all on one site if possible. My reasoning is that I need a good amount of literature to get a good grip in terms of allocations and structure for literature and more informal anacoluthon speech. If you could help me with that and a very good old ( I mean old ) thesaurus or dictionary and manuscripts in Dutch that would be fantastic.

For context, Italy and Spain have excellent online libraries putting all those digitalized texts for the usage of people I general: manuscripts, codixes, sometimes very old dictionaries/lexicons, etc. I wonder if there are some like that from the Netherlands or Belgium. I know there aren't many resources in Papiamento or Afrikaans either, at least in English, so I'm not sure you can find archives like these from these countries.

I want to learn Dutch from a philological perspective. I have acquired some technical courses about it but I really want to get in contact with online resources that have books ( readers ) like those of Roald Dahl or the Grimm brothers, all on one site if possible. My reasoning is that I need a good amount of literature to get a good grip in terms of allocations and structure for literature and more informal anacoluthon speech. If you could help me with that and a very good old ( I mean old ) thesaurus or dictionary and manuscripts in Dutch that would be fantastic.

For context, Italy and Spain have excellent online libraries putting all those digitalized texts for the usage of people I general: manuscripts, codixes, sometimes very old dictionaries/lexicons, etc. I wonder if there are some like that from the Netherlands or Belgium. I know there aren't many resources in Papiamento or Afrikaans either, at least in English, so I'm not sure you can find archives like these from these countries.

Here’s information for a very good discord server that is for those interested and passionate about learning languages, meeting people from different cultures and countries, learning linguistics, and making conlangs. This is a great community with a very active user base and strong staff team. Link: https://discord.gg/practice-your-language-793202043703001098

The following is some more information about the server

Languages offered: Full channels for the following (all have their own voice channels too) Arabic Danish Dutch English French German Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Mandarin Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Swedish Turkish

Threads for the following (if enough interest is shown for a new language a mod will add a new language thread. And if some of the ones we already have become big enough, they can get their own channels) Indonesian Romanian Vietnamese Thai Czech Hebrew Ukrainian Finnish Cantonese Albanian Urdu Kazakh Greek Irish Persian Amazigh Greenlandic

We also have a general chat A chat for Colangs A chat for Sign Language A chat for Duolingo And lots more

We have active teachers in the following languages (we are looking for new teachers too. Teachers don’t get paid, they volunteer to do this): English Norwegian Russian Spanish

I joined PYL about a year ago to learn German and was happy to find a community of lovely people who are dedicated to language and linguistics. If you decide to join, welcome to our community :)

I have heard that Duolingo isn’t thorough with teaching languages; I was wondering if anyone had some better recommendations on FREE apps/websites that are good for learning Dutch.

Hi all!
I've been learning Dutch for a while now, and it's been going quite well. One thing I'd like to get into is to learn more idioms. I know a few such as "Beren op de weg zien" and "de zon komt niet voor niets op".

I am wondering if there's any website or apps in which I can learn these idioms, or perhaps even search for a similar idiom from another language that I already speak fluently/natively?

Thank you in advance!

Hi,

Ik heb sinds kort een app gelanceerd om YouTube te kijken in het Nederlands, en dan tegelijk ondersteuning te krijgen dmv AI. Ik gebruik het zelf om Frans te leren, maar aangezien ik Nederlands ben, heb ik het ook gecontroleerd of het de andere kant op werkt ;)

Ik ben op zoek naar feedback en testers die geintresseerd zijn om op een andere manier te leren.

https://reddit.com/link/1h4809z/video/o4p4pee7s94e1/player

Dears, anyone kindly can help me understand the following: 1. Is this sentence correct? (I'm practicing for Dutch A2 inburgering Dutch exam): "het feest is op zaterdag bij mijn huis om 8 uur" 2. If is correct (found as practice example online), then im so fused why the place comes before time 😟? Im afraid i cant just memoride this and when ill have the exam ill try stick to the rule Subject verb time place. Thank you in adavance.

I know not a lot of stuff really gets translated to Dutch but for what material does get translated, is there an app I can find a lot of it? I go on Google Books or the Kindle app and, even with filters, its hard to find something, let alone something that I want to read or which I think would be helpful, like a gay romance book or a school science textbook.

I'm practicing on Duolingo but can't figure out when "heen", "toe", "door", etc. I believe its something to do with the present tense but other than that I'm lost. Can someone please explain?

Hello everyone, is there a difference between these two questions? does the second one implies more elaborated answer like whats next? or so? my friend asked me this way the first time and I feel that just saying 'goed, en met jouw' is not what expected from me as an answer or maybe im just overthinking and its just the same as hoe gaat het

I’m a native English speaker, I love Spanish accents (so Spanish speakers speaking English); and I’m curious what accents sound good when speaking Dutch? I understand it’s personal preference here but curious to see the comments.

And what do the Dutch think of the English accent?

According to Lesson 35 from Assimil's "La Pratique du Néerlandais" (from 1987), there are 3 possibilities for sentences with "wat... betreft" (relating to

1. Same subject: NO inversion:

- Wat haar betreft, ze was het niet eens.

2. Different subjects, YES inversion:

- Wat onze firma betreft, worden alle brieven door twee directeurs getekend.

3. With "wat mij betreft" specifically, you can find both structures:

- Wat mij betreft, ik zal mijn deel betalen.
- Wat mij betreft, heb ik liever rode wijn.

Problem is: according to two friends (one from Belgium, one from the Netherlands) they'd just do the inversion both times. So, to what extent the book's explanation correct?

(Bonus question: can I remove the commas in all sentences?)

I was trying to decide between two books. One is De finale the other one is Derde Ronde (De Delfste Methode). Anyone has any experiences with these books? Or any other advices are all welcomed.

I have been doing Dutch on Duolingo for a little while now (like 6 weeks of consistent Dutch, I think? I was doing it off and on for a bit, but now I'm doing it consistently.) I was wondering, are all plural nouns automatically "de" words?

Hi. How do Slavic accents sound in Dutch? I've always felt ashamed of my Polish accent in English. However, in German, despite belonging to the same language group, it sounds charming (at least according to my friends). I've been learning Dutch since I moved to the Netherlands, but I'm still at a beginner level, so I haven't had the chance to talk to any locals :)

It's been a month here in Netherlands and i have learned only few words. I didn't know where to start. Suggest me any best platform or any channel. (Not Duolingo)

Hello everyone, frankly I wish to have some Dutch speaking friends. I started learning Dutch 2 years ago and I often find myself losing motivation because I feel a bit aimless and I hope that if I make Dutch speaking friends it will keep me learning. I initially started learning for myself and possibly work but I have no one to talk to and I won't work in the Netherlands within the next decade but I do live close-ish to the Dutch border.

I am too shy to just go up to people and start a conversation, I do not wish to be bothersome to anyone. If anyone is open to it I would be very grateful. Thank you!

Dear Dutch-learners,

Has anyone here taken the KNM portion of inburgering? Were you tested on the capitals of the 12 provinces?

I ask because I want to know if I should memorize these capitals for the exam. :D

Thanks in advance!

I'm at A2 now, lots of new grammatica. I learn at school (language school, ISK) and I do daily Duolingo lessons. What are some things that I can do to learn faster or understand the grammar easier. Coming from Romanian and English, the way you arrange words in Dutch sentences is a bit weird for me and hard to always get it right. Any tips or advice?

Hi there, I have been learning Dutch on my own and I came across the question in the title. I know that the past tense in English would usually translate to present perfect in Dutch. (e.g. bought -> hebben ... gekocht) But there is also "kocht", which is simple past in Dutch(?) When do we use it and what are the differences?

They are their sons? Im so confused is this some kind of a tonguetwister sentence

Hi I’m completely new to the language and was wondering what the best ways to learn Dutch would be any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks

Hi all,

I am planning to prepare for B1 exams for required for applying dutch PR , i will be eligible in April 2027 and considering it i think it will be B1

So I have two years to complete it , I have learned Norwegian at A2-B1 level

1. Is two years enough for B2 dutch learning ?

2.Will norwegian help grasping it quicker

Hi everyone!

I've been learning Dutch for a while now, and currently taking an advanced Dutch course in my (Belgian) uni. We've got our first exam and I scored well, but my teacher recommended that I work on my pronunciation for the next exam (end of December).

She thinks my French accent is too strong and dislikes the fact that my accent sometimes sounds more Dutch than Flemish. She recommended this website (https://www.klinkklaaronlinefrans.be/online-oefenen) which I think helps a bit but I don't think it will be enough practice.

So does anyone have tips to nail the Flemish accent, ressources I could use to do some shadowing? Thanks :)

This is so silly but I’ve been learning dutch because of my boyfriend and i asked him how to say this (as a joke!!) but he won’t tell me lol. i google translated it and it says “ga verdomme weg van mijn vriendje,” but he says it’s not right or that it sounds silly HAHA so i’m hoping someone could tell me :) thanks!!

I've been using Claude extensively to answer questions about Dutch for the last few weeks, which has been beyond helpful. I checked around here to see if anyone else has been doing it, and apparently about a year ago there was a post about using ChatGPT and people quickly found errors in its Dutch, which of course is a huge problem if you're in my shoes. I have more faith in Claude, which is known to be a better writer and which has received some very good updates in the last year, but if anyone could take a moment to see how natural this story I had it write sounds, I'd very much appreciate it. The prompt was "Please write me a story in natural-sounding Dutch about 300 words long. Don't make this for a beginner; I need it to sound like genuine Netherlands Dutch. Choose a topic that's somewhat whimsical." Here's what it came up with:

####De Geheimen van de Tuinkabouter

Poes had al weken haar verdenkingen over de nieuwe tuinkabouter van de buren. Er was iets vreemds aan die kleine kerel met zijn puntige rode muts en die eeuwige glimlach. Overdag stond hij doodstil tussen de viooltjes, maar 's nachts... tja, dan werd het interessant.

Het begon toen ze hem op een maanverlichte nacht zag knipogen. Gewoon, zo maar. Een snelle knipoog en toen weer die irritante glimlach. Natuurlijk wist Poes dat tuinkabouters niet horen te knipogen, maar ze had het echt gezien.

Een week later hoorde ze gefluister uit de tuin. Toen ze voorzichtig over de schutting gluurde, zag ze de kabouter in gesprek met een groepje muizen. Hij zwaaide met een minuscuul toverstokje en de muizen knikten alsof ze precies begrepen wat hij bedoelde.

De daaropvolgende dagen gebeurden er steeds meer onverklaarbare dingen. Bloemen die 's nachts van kleur veranderden, paddenstoelen die in perfecte cirkels groeiden, en was dat nou echt een kikker met een vlinderstrikje die door de tuin hopte?

Poes besloot de zaak grondig te onderzoeken. Ze verstopte zich achter de regenton en wachtte geduldig. Middernacht kwam en ging, en net toen ze begon te denken dat ze zich alles had verbeeld, gebeurde het: de kabouter rekte zich uit, stapte van zijn voetstuk en begon een ingewikkelde dans uit te voeren terwijl hij spreuken mompelde.

Verschillende tuingereedschappen kwamen tot leven en begonnen rond te zweven. De gieter goot zichzelf leeg over de dorstige planten, terwijl de hark vrolijk een jazzy deuntje tikte op de tegels. De kabouter dirigeerde het hele spektakel met zijn toverstokje, als een maestro voor het vreemdste orkest dat Poes ooit had gezien.

Sindsdien kijkt niemand meer raar op als Poes urenlang naar die "doodgewone" tuinkabouter zit te staren. Ze weet wat ze heeft gezien, en op een dag zal ze bewijzen dat ze gelijk heeft. Tot die tijd houdt ze tevreden de wacht, want iemand moet toch die toverende tuinkabouter in de gaten houden?

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Hey guys! Lately, I’ve been trying out a beta feature that turns lesson content into custom audio podcasts for my students. It’s been a game-changer for keeping students engaged and helping them revisit vocabulary naturally and practically between classes.

If you’d like to try it yourself, here’s how it works for free:

1. Go to langmagic.com and log in or sign up.

2. In the left-hand menu (where you’ll find options like “Home” and “ChatGPT Prompts”), look for the “Create Audio-Podcast” button in the bottom right corner.

3. Click on it, and you will be redirected to a Google Form.

4. Fill out all the required fields in the form.

5. Within a few hours, you will receive your podcast via the email address you provided.