Your first Dutch: greet anyone, and say who you are. The two things every conversation opens with.
Dag 1~60 minutesInput
Day 1 of 100 · Amsterdam
Welkom — before we start
This course teaches you to use Dutch, not to recite rules about it. Every day you meet real Dutch first, pull the pattern out of it, then say it out loud. Good news to begin with: Dutch and English are close cousins, so you already recognise more than you think (huis = house, water = water, drinken = to drink). Today you leave able to greet someone and introduce yourself.
Listen first: two people meet
Read each exchange twice. Do not translate word by word. Get the gist, then notice how much you already understand.
Now the same meeting between two young people. Watch what changes:
Onder vrienden · informal
Daan
Hoi! Hoe heet je?
Hi! What's your name? (informal)
Lotte
Ik ben Lotte. En jij?
I'm Lotte. And you?
Daan
Daan. Leuk je te ontmoeten!
Daan. Nice to meet you!
The pattern: saying who you are
You just met the two verbs you need to introduce yourself. Both are everyday:
Core pattern
Ik ben = "I am" · Ik heet = "my name is"
To say your name you have two natural options: Ik ben Lotte (I am Lotte) or Ik heet Lotte (literally "I am called Lotte"). Both are common; ben is a touch more casual.
To ask, the word for "you" changes with who you are talking to, the day's big idea:
Informal (a friend, a peer): Hoe heet je? then En jij? (je is just the unstressed form of jij.)
Formal (a stranger, someone older, any official setting): Hoe heet u? then En u?
We will conjugate zijn and heten fully tomorrow. Today, ik ben and ik heet are all you need to put yourself into any conversation.
jij or u? — the choice you keep making
The Netherlands is famously informal, so je / jij comes out fast with peers, colleagues, and younger people. But u (formal you) is still expected with strangers who are older, with officials, and in any civic or inburgering setting. A safe rule: start with u, switch to je once the other person does.
Today's words
Ten words, every one high-frequency. The band shows how common the word is in everyday Dutch: the lower the number, the more you will hear it.
word · meaning · frequency band
hallohello (neutral, safe anytime)top 200
hoihi (informal)top 400
goedemorgengood morningtop 500
goedemiddaggood afternoontop 700
goedenavondgood eveningtop 800
dag /dɑx/hello / bye (neutral, everyday)top 150
ik benI amtop 20
ik heetmy name is (lit. "I am called")top 400
jij / uyou (informal / formal)top 30
tot ziensgoodbye (a bit formal)top 600
The sound of Dutch — meet the famous G
Dutch is mostly phonetic, but two things trip up beginners, so we start them today:
The Dutch G / CH. In goedemorgen and dag, the g/ch is a raspy sound made at the back of the throat (like clearing it gently), written /x/. It is the most Dutch sound there is. Do not swap it for an English "g".
Long vs short vowels. A doubled vowel is held longer: man (man) versus maan (moon), bom versus boom (tree). The length changes the meaning.
Here are three greetings from native speakers. Play them and copy the sound, especially that throaty g:
hallogoedemorgendag
Oefening
Fix it in place
Right greeting, right time. Which do you say at 9 a.m.? At 8 p.m.? To a friend on the street? (goedemorgen · goedenavond · hoi)
Fill the gap. "_____ Sanne. En _____?" You are at a government desk talking to an official. (→ Ik ben / heet Sanne. En u?)
jij or u? You address: (a) a child, (b) a police officer, (c) your new flatmate your age, (d) an elderly neighbour. Mark each.
Say it back. Cover the English and read the formal dialogue aloud twice, once as each person, chasing that throaty g in goedemorgen.
Doe het — say it out loud (2 minutes)
Out loud, to your phone's voice recorder, introduce yourself twice:
Formally, as if at an official desk: Goedemorgen. Ik ben [your name]. Aangenaam.
Informally, as if meeting a friend of a friend: Hoi! Ik ben [your name]. En jij?
Play it back. Is your g coming from the throat? Are your long vowels actually long? That is the whole loop, input, pattern, output, and you just closed it on Day 1.
Klink als een Nederlander
Dutch people greet with a quick, warm Hoi, hoe gaat het? almost as one word, and among friends and family a greeting comes with three cheek kisses. Lead with ik ben, offer a handshake, and you already sound like someone who belongs here.
Om te onthouden · today's takeaways
Ik ben + name (or Ik heet + name) puts you into any conversation.
Dutch makes you choose je / jij (informal) or u (formal). Start with u with strangers and officials.
Greetings shift with the time: goedemorgen, goedenavond, and the all-day dag and hallo.
The Dutch g / ch is a throaty /x/, and doubled vowels are held longer (man vs maan).