Dutch in Utrecht

Are you often confused about Dutch grammar, verb forms, or even simply the alphabet? Check dutchgrammar.com! This website is quite accurate and very good in representing the rules and features of our language.

Do you think you already speak a little bit of Dutch? Test yourself, to see how much you know, and which levels (A1, A2, B1, etc.) you can handle! Go to http://nt2taalmenu.nl/index.shtml, and click on the section or skill that interests you to see for yourself!

inburgering

Did you know that Dutch is not only spoken in the Netherlands, but in other countries and regions as well? In fact, South Africa, Surinam, Curaçao, Belgium, and Germany are amongst the countries where pure Dutch, or a form of the language can be found.

Dutch in Utrecht still boasts one of the lowest prices per hour for private Dutch classes, at € 12,50 for 1 person. Two persons will receive a discount over the total amount, so take advantage of this attractive offer and check dutchinutrecht.nl if interested!

After a brief holiday period of three weeks in beautiful Greece, Dutch in Utrecht is back on track, providing quality, cost-efficient Dutch classes to international students and professionals!

Another student profile for one of Dutch in Utrecht's students. This time, Italian graphic designer Marco Perego shares his thoughts!

Trivia. The Dutch are the tallest people in the world at 184 cm on average for men, and 170 cm for women, and when the Dutch travelled to North America in 1600-1700, they named the places where they settled, so that New York actually used to be called New Amsterdam, and "Harlem," the name for the famous suburb from the Big Apple, is derived from the Dutch city "Haarlem."

Beginner Tip: Are you having trouble figuring out which words in Dutch are "de" words and which are "het"? There are no good rules to explain all words, but the following categories are useful to know. Professions (docent, advocaat), names of mountains, rivers, fruits and plants are "de", and names of languages, metals and bi-syllabic (two-syllable) words starting with be-, ge-, ver- and ont- are "het". Also, all vehicles (trein, but, tram, taxi) are "de", except for the air plane, as it is "het vliegtuig."

New: Dutch in Utrecht did a Q and A with one of its students, Homayoon Kazemi. Read the piece for a quick overview of an Iranian student's experiences in the Netherlands and with the Dutch language!

Trivia. The Netherlands literally translates to something like "low lands," and this is geographically justified, since about 26% of its land is below sea level and would therefore be under water if we didn't have our dikes. Without those, up to 50% of the Netherlands would run the serious risk of flooding.

Beginner Tip: The Clock. In the Netherlands, the clock works differently than in other countries. For 17:00 h you would say "vijf uur," for 17:15 h you would say "kwart over vijf," and for 17:20 h you say "twintig over vijf." But did you know that the Dutch say "vijf voor half zes," or: "five minutes before half past five," for 17:25 h? From that point, it's symmetrical, so "half zes, vijf over half zes, twintig voor zes," etc.

My name is Maik Arets and I offer private Dutch language courses to international students and expats. I teach on all levels, from beginner to advanced. My practice is located in Utrecht.

I teach Dutch to individual students and students who want to have courses with friends in small groups, and I specialise in working with students who want to speak better Dutch for work, social reasons, or to pass the naturalisation exams (het inburgeringsexamen).

http://dutchinutrecht.nl

Private Dutch courses in Utrecht Private Dutch courses in Utrecht