Learn English from Dutch the way people actually speak it
Dutch speakers learn English for international business, academic research, and European career opportunities. The Netherlands has one of the highest English proficiency rates in the world — most Dutch speakers learn English at school and use it regularly. The focus for Dutch speakers is fine-tuning rather than starting from scratch.
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Real Examples
Dutch to English, word for word
These are real sentences that Dutch speakers use every day. Each one comes with a translation and a grammar note to help you understand the difference.
Ik wil snel Engels leren.
→I want to learn English quickly.
💡 Dutch infinitives go to the end of the clause — 'leren' (learn) comes last. In English 'learn' comes right after 'to want'. Dutch speakers instinctively end clauses with the verb.
Ik leer al drie jaar Engels.
→I have been learning English for three years.
💡 Dutch uses the present tense with 'al' for ongoing situations. English uses the present perfect continuous — Dutch speakers often use the simple present incorrectly here.
Kunt u wat langzamer praten, alstublieft?
→Could you speak more slowly, please?
💡 Very similar structure. Dutch and English are close cousins here — both use auxiliary verb inversion for formal requests.
Als ik meer gestudeerd had, had ik het examen gehaald.
→If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam.
💡 Dutch third conditional maps closely to English — both use past perfect in the condition. The main difference is Dutch word order in the result clause.
Engels is een zeer belangrijke taal.
→English is a very important language.
💡 Almost identical structure — Dutch and English align closely in basic declarative sentences. Note that English uses the article 'a' before 'language' — Dutch uses 'een' similarly.
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Mistakes most Dutch speakers make
These are the patterns that trip up Dutch speakers most often. Knowing them ahead of time will save you a lot of frustration.
Grammar
How Dutch and English differ
Understanding where the two languages pull in different directions makes it much easier to stop translating in your head and start thinking directly in English.
Word Order
Dutch uses verb-second order in main clauses — like English. But in subordinate clauses, Dutch sends the verb to the end, creating very different sentence endings from English. Dutch speakers must keep the verb in the middle in English subordinate clauses too.
Articles
Dutch has 'de' for common gender nouns and 'het' for neuter nouns. English has 'the', 'a', and 'an' with no gender system. Dutch speakers generally find English articles relatively easy.
Verbs
Dutch and English verb systems are quite similar being Germanic cousins. The main differences are in modal verbs and separable verbs — Dutch separable verbs split in ways that English phrasal verbs do not.
FAQ
Questions people ask us
Here are the things Dutch learners ask most when they start their English journey.
How long does it take a Dutch speaker to learn English?
Dutch speakers typically need only 575 to 600 hours to reach English fluency — one of the shortest timelines of any language pair. Dutch and English are closely related Germanic languages with vast shared vocabulary and similar grammar.
What are the most common false friends between Dutch and English?
Common false friends include: 'actueel' (current, not actual), 'eventueel' (possibly, not eventually), 'sympathiek' (nice, not sympathetic), 'generen' (to embarrass, not to generate), and 'solliciteren' (to apply for a job, not to solicit).
Why do Dutch people speak such good English?
The Netherlands is consistently ranked at the top of global English proficiency surveys. This is partly because Dutch and English are closely related, partly because the Dutch education system emphasises English heavily, and partly because Dutch media is mostly not dubbed — exposing Dutch speakers to English from a young age.
What is the best English learning app for Dutch speakers?
Rozy explains English grammar in Dutch, specifically highlights false friends and subordinate clause word order which are the main stumbling blocks for Dutch speakers, and helps reach professional-level fluency through targeted practice.
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