Dutch: Lesson one
Ha, it’s really cool to be on the teaching side of life for once :P. Anway, I think we should start with the
easy stuff. I wanted to make this an illustrated lesson, but I guess I don’t have enough time (I want to
go to bed, but teaching people the beautiful language of sanderland is more important). We’ll be
studying the most important verbs today. You should really memorize these, because you use them in
practically every sentence that rolls out of your mouth. I know it’s boring, but it is very essential (wow I
sound like I’m 40....) if you want to really learn the language :P
Zijn To be Hebben To have
Ik ben I am Ik heb I have
Jij bent You are Jij hebt You have
Hij/zij is He/she is Hij/zij heeft He/she has
Wij zijn We are Wij hebben We have
Jullie zijn You are Jullie hebben You have
Zij zijn They are Zij hebben They have
Ik was I was I had I had
Jij was You were Jij had You had
Hij was He was Hij had He had
Wij waren We were Wij hadden We had
Jullie waren You were Jullie hadden You had
Zij waren They were Zij hadden They had
Ik ben geweest I have been Ik heb gehad I have had
Jij bent geweest You have been Jij hebt gehad You have had
Etc. etc. etc. etc.
Note on the perfect tense:
In dutch, for some words we use, the simple tense combined with the perfect tense is of the verb to
be, for others, it is of to have. An example:
Jij bent geweest literally means I am been. In dutch we use the simple tense of to be with the perfect
tense of to be. However, with the perfect tense of to have, we use the simple tense of to have.
Some easy sentences:
Ik ben moe [ick ben moo] = I am tired
Ik heb een fiets [ick hep uhhn feets] = I’ve got a bike
Zij zijn nederlands [Zy zine naduhrlahnds] = They are Dutch
Concerning definite articles (i think thats what theyre called)
In dutch we still have something like feminin and masculin words (or male/female, whatever you call
it). Some words have the article de, others the article het. Some examples:
Het huis The house Het meisje The girl
De fiets The bike De jongen The boy
This is hard to learn (just like it is in french with the le and la thing). Eventually you will just get a
feeling for it, but that’s a long time away. So for now you’ll just have to learn it.
The end of this lesson is vocabulary training. It is boring indeed, but necessary. (pronunciation in
brackets, and remember that als g’s are like we always do them)
De School [duhh sgohl] = School -Our ‘oe’ sounds the same
De Leraar [duhh Lihr ahr] = Teacher (male) as your oo, but is a little bit shorter.
De Lerares [duhh Lihr ahr ess] = Teacher (female) -Remember the hard g’s
De Boeken [duhh boo kuhn*] = Books -Remember the rrrroling rrr’s
De pen [duhh pehn] = Pen -krijt is not actually pronounced ‘krait’, but
Het potlood [heht poht loht] = Pencil ‘krait’ sounds the most like the actual
Het bureau [heht buuhh ro] = Desk pronunciation
Het rooster [heht roh stuhr] = time table/schedule
Het krijt [heht krait] = chalc
Het bord [heht bohrt] = blackboard
De Aula [duhh oulah] = auditorium
Scheikunde [sgaikuhnduh] = chemistry
