Dutch for beginners · Lesson 1.2 · Getting to know people
Where are you from?
- 25 minutes
After this lesson you can say where you come from, where you live and which languages you speak. You can ask someone else the same, and you can read a short note in which someone introduces themselves.
ReviewStep 1
Do you remember?
Three questions about lesson 1.1. Try first, then open the answer.
- How do you ask your landlord his name?
Answer
Hoe heet u? To a landlord you say u. - It is evening. How do you greet Ans?
Answer
Goedenavond, Ans! Or Hoi, Ans!: she said Zeg maar je. - Complete: Ik ___ Sam.
Answer
Ik ben Sam. With u it is u bent, with hij and zij it is is.
- How do you ask your landlord his name?
ReadStep 2
1. The situation
A few days later you are in the café on the corner. Someone of about your age sits down next to you: Sanne. You start talking. Where are you from? Where do you live? Which languages do you speak?
Sanne says je to you straight away. In a café, between people of the same age, that is normal. So you say je too.
ListenStep 3
2. Words
Word list Dutch English komen to come uit from, out of wonen to live (in a place) spreken to speak wie who wat what waar where waar ... vandaan where ... from de taal, de talen the language, the languages het land, de landen the country, the countries ook also, too een beetje a little ReadStep 4
5. ik woon, je woont, woon je?
Sanne asks: Waar woon jij? Sam says: Ik woon ook in Utrecht. Same verb, different endings.
wonen komen spreken ik woon kom spreek je, jij woont komt spreekt u woont komt spreekt hij, zij woont komt spreekt The rule:
- Take the verb, for example wonen, and remove -en. That is the form for ik: ik woon.
- For je, u, hij and zij, add -t: je woont, hij komt.
- The spelling changes a little, so that the sound stays the same. Wonen has a long o, so you write ik woon with two o's. Spreken: ik spreek. Komen has a short o: ik kom.
No -t when je comes after the verb
In a question the verb often comes first, or straight after the question word. When je or jij comes after the verb, the -t goes: je woont, but Waar woon je? With u, hij and zij the -t stays: Waar woont u?
statement question Je woont in Utrecht. Waar woon je? Jij spreekt Engels. Spreek jij Engels? U komt uit Spanje. Waar komt u vandaan? You will practise this more in lesson 1.3.
Question words
wie who: Wie is Sanne? wat what: Wat spreek je? waar where: Waar woon je? hoe how: Hoe heet je? waar ... vandaan where ... from: Waar kom je vandaan? Watch out: wie means "who" and waar means "where". They look like English "we" and "were", but they are not.
Waar kom je vandaan?
In English you say "Where are you from?" with "to be". In Dutch you use komen, and vandaan goes to the end: Waar kom je vandaan? The answer uses uit: Ik kom uit Engeland.
You can also say your nationality: Ik ben Brits, Ik ben Amerikaans, Ik ben Spaans. These words are the same for men and women.
How it sounds
- ui in uit has no English sound. Start with the vowel of English "out", round your lips, and end even rounder. Listen to uit a few times.
- aa in waar and taal is a long, open sound. The short a is in dank: a different sound, and a different word if you get it wrong (man, man; maan, moon).
- The g in Engeland is the rough throat sound from lesson 1.1.
PractiseStep 5
Try it: which ending?
Choose the right form.
6. Practice
Exercise 1. Which question word?
Choose the question.
4 questions
You want to know someone's country.
You want to know where someone lives.
You hear the name Peter Visser. You want to know who he is.
You want to know someone's name.
Exercise 2. A note in the café
On the noticeboard in the café there is a note. Read it. Then say if the sentences are true or false. New: Pools is Polish, Wie wil ...? is "Who wants to ...?" and met mij is "with me".
Hoi! Ik ben Mila. Ik kom uit Polen. Ik woon in Utrecht. Ik spreek Pools, Engels en een beetje Nederlands. Wie wil met mij Nederlands spreken? Doei! Mila
ReviewStep 6
Later you will practise this
- In lesson 1.3 you give your details at a gym: your name, address and phone number. Questions with the verb first come back: Woont u in Utrecht?
- In lesson 1.5 you meet Sanne again at her birthday party. Someone there thinks you come from another country.
- After a week you get three quick questions: about waar ... vandaan, about the -t and about the countries.
Do you remember?
One week after you mark this lesson as Understood, 3 quick questions will be ready for you here.
Dutch for beginners
48 lessons · 8 modules · A1 · A2
You introduce yourself, go shopping, order in a café, find your way, talk about your weekend, travel, see a doctor and start a new job, in Dutch as you hear it in the Netherlands.
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