Giving and Following Instructions | Dutch Grammar

Recipes, manuals, route descriptions, IKEA leaflets, your colleague explaining the coffee machine — all of these run on instructional discourse, and Dutch has a clear, consistent way of doing it. The backbone is the imperative, supported by sequence markers (eerst … dan … vervolgens … ten slotte) and the workhorse construction zorg dat / zorg ervoor dat ("make sure that"). The grammar is mostly easy, but it springs three reliable traps for English speakers: forming the imperative, splitting separable verbs correctly, and getting the word order right after a sequence marker. This page covers how to give instructions, how to follow them, and exactly where those traps lie.

The imperative for steps

The default for a step in a sequence is the imperative, and the Dutch imperative is wonderfully simple: it's just the verb stem (the ik-form), with no ending and no pronoun. Drukken → druk; toevoegen → voeg … toe; roeren → roer. This is the form you'll see all over recipes, screens, and signs.

Druk op de groene knop om te starten.

Press the green button to start. (imperative = bare stem 'druk')

Roer goed door en laat tien minuten staan.

Stir well and leave to stand for ten minutes. (two imperatives in a row)

Klik op 'Opslaan' en sluit het venster.

Click 'Save' and close the window. (typical on-screen instructions)

A handful of verbs add -t in the more careful written imperative (zijn → wees / weest; hebben → heb / hebt), but for the everyday imperative, the bare stem is right almost always. Do not add -en — that's the infinitive, and Drukken op de knop reads as a notice or a stray infinitive, not an instruction.

Separable verbs in instructions

Recipes and manuals are full of separable verbs — toevoegen (add), afspoelen (rinse), aanzetten (turn on), uitschakelen (switch off). In a main-clause imperative, the prefix splits off and goes to the end of the clause, exactly as it would in a normal main clause. So toevoegen becomes Voeg … toe, with everything you're adding sandwiched in between.

Voeg twee eetlepels suiker toe.

Add two tablespoons of sugar. (separable 'toevoegen' → 'voeg … toe')

Spoel de rijst goed af onder koud water.

Rinse the rice well under cold water. ('afspoelen' → 'spoel … af')

Zet de oven aan op 180 graden.

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees. ('aanzetten' → 'zet … aan')

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In an imperative, the separable prefix lands at the very end of the clause, after the object and any extra information: Voeg [de bloem] [beetje bij beetje]toe. The longer the middle, the easier it is to forget the prefix — but in good Dutch it must be there.

Sequence markers — and the word order they force

Instructions are ordered, so they lean on sequence connectives: eerst (first), dan / daarna (then / after that), vervolgens (next/subsequently), and ten slotte / tot slot (finally). The catch: most of these are adverbs that, placed at the front of a clause, trigger inversion — the verb stays in second position, so the subject moves after the verb. Vervolgens je voegt … is wrong; it must be Vervolgens voeg je …

Eerst snijd je de ui fijn.

First, finely chop the onion. (front adverb → inversion: 'snijd je')

Vervolgens bak je het vlees aan.

Next, sear the meat. ('vervolgens' + inversion: 'bak je')

Ten slotte strooi je er wat peper overheen.

Finally, sprinkle some pepper over it. ('ten slotte' + inversion)

Note these examples use the je-form rather than the bare imperative — that's the other common register for instructions (see below). Both styles are standard; recipes often mix them.

"Je moet …" — the explanatory instruction

When you're explaining a procedure conversationally rather than commanding step-by-step, Dutch reaches for je moet … ("you have to / you need to"). It's softer and more explanatory than a bare imperative, and it pairs naturally with dan ("then") to chain steps. The main verb goes to the end of the clause as an infinitive, because moet is a modal.

Je moet eerst op het knopje drukken, dan gaat het lampje aan.

You have to press the little button first, then the light comes on. (explanatory 'je moet')

Je moet het deeg een uur laten rusten.

You need to let the dough rest for an hour. (modal + infinitive 'laten rusten' at the end)

Polite "u"-instructions

In formal written instructions — official forms, signage, customer-facing manuals — Dutch often uses a softened imperative with u: the verb takes -t and u follows it (Vult u dit formulier in). This is more courteous than the bare command and is the standard register for addressing the public formally. The fully neutral written alternative is gelieve … te + infinitive ("please …", formal/official).

Vult u dit formulier volledig in, alstublieft.

Please fill in this form completely. (formal 'u'-imperative: 'vult u … in')

Neemt u plaats, de dokter komt zo bij u.

Please take a seat, the doctor will be with you shortly. (formal, courteous)

Gelieve uw kaartje gereed te houden.

Please have your ticket ready. (very formal/official notice register)

"Zorg dat" and "zorg ervoor dat" — make sure that

The construction for "make sure (that) …" is zorg dat + clause, or the slightly fuller zorg ervoor dat + clause. Both are standard; zorg ervoor dat is a touch more emphatic. The verb in the dat-clause goes to the end (subordinate word order), which trips up English speakers who keep the verb in the middle.

Zorg dat de pan goed heet is voordat je begint.

Make sure the pan is properly hot before you start. ('zorg dat' + verb to the end: 'heet is')

Zorg ervoor dat je alle stukken bij de hand hebt.

Make sure you have all the pieces to hand. ('zorg ervoor dat' + 'hebt' at the end)

The close cousin let op ("watch out / note") flags a warning or a point to pay attention to, very common at the top of a step.

Let op: de plaat blijft nog even heet.

Note: the hob stays hot for a while. ('let op' = heads-up before a caution)

Following instructions: reading the cues

To follow Dutch instructions confidently, scan for the structure: imperatives or je moet mark the actions, eerst/vervolgens/ten slotte mark the order, zorg dat and let op mark conditions and cautions, and totdat ("until") / tot marks how long. Recognising these signposts lets you parse a dense recipe or manual at a glance.

Bak de pannenkoek tot de onderkant goudbruin is, draai hem dan om.

Fry the pancake until the underside is golden, then flip it. ('tot' + condition, 'dan' + next step)

Common Mistakes

❌ Drukken op de knop.

That's the infinitive, not an instruction. The imperative is the bare stem: 'Druk op de knop.'

✅ Druk op de knop.

Press the button.

❌ Voeg toe twee eetlepels suiker.

The separable prefix 'toe' must go to the end, not stay attached to the verb: 'Voeg twee eetlepels suiker toe.'

✅ Voeg twee eetlepels suiker toe.

Add two tablespoons of sugar.

❌ Vervolgens je bakt het vlees.

A front adverb forces inversion — verb before subject: 'Vervolgens bak je het vlees.'

✅ Vervolgens bak je het vlees.

Next, fry the meat.

❌ Zorg dat de pan is heet.

In a 'dat'-clause the verb goes to the end: 'Zorg dat de pan heet is.'

✅ Zorg dat de pan heet is.

Make sure the pan is hot.

❌ Vult dit formulier in, alstublieft. (meaning the formal 'u' instruction)

The formal imperative keeps 'u': 'Vult u dit formulier in.' Without 'u' it reads as a plural/odd command.

✅ Vult u dit formulier in, alstublieft.

Please fill in this form.

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