The Most Common Spelling Errors (A2) | Dutch Grammar

You do not need to master all of Dutch spelling to stop looking like a beginner. A small number of mistakes account for the overwhelming majority of the spelling slips A2 learners make, and fixing those six things buys you most of the way to clean writing. This page is deliberately narrow: it is a triage list, not a rule book. The underlying rules each have their own page — this is where you come to find and kill the specific errors that keep recurring in your own writing. For each one you get the wrong version, the fix, and the one-line reason.

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If you only remember one thing: almost every Dutch spelling decision is settled by adding an ending and listening. Long or short vowel? Voiced or voiceless ending? The plural or the infinitive tells you. The six fixes below are all applications of that single habit.

Fix 1 — Vowel doubling: manen vs mannen

This is error number one by a wide margin. A long vowel in a closed syllable is written double (maan); the same vowel in an open syllable drops to single (ma-nen). A short vowel is always single but forces a doubled consonant before an ending (man → mannen). Mixing these up changes the word.

❌ Ik zie veel mannen aan de hemel.

Wrong — mannen means 'men'. You meant manen ('moons').

✅ Ik zie veel manen aan de hemel.

'I see many moons in the sky.' Long aa → ma-nen.

❌ Er staan drie manen voor de deur.

Wrong — manen ('moons'). For 'men' you need the short-a form.

✅ Er staan drie mannen voor de deur.

'There are three men at the door.' Short a → man-nen.

The reason: keeping the aa in manen would be redundant (the open syllable already makes it long), and not doubling the n in mannen would open the syllable and turn the short a long. (Full rule: open and closed syllables.)

Fix 2 — Consonant doubling in verbs: lopen vs stoppen

The same logic, now in verbs, where it bites constantly. A long vowel keeps a single consonant before -en; a short vowel doubles it.

❌ Wij loppen elke ochtend in het park.

Wrong — loppen would have a short o. The verb is lopen (long oo).

✅ Wij lopen elke ochtend in het park.

'We walk in the park every morning.' Long oo → lo-pen, one p.

❌ Wij stopen bij het tankstation.

Wrong — a single p opens the syllable and lengthens the o. The verb has a short o.

✅ Wij stoppen bij het tankstation.

'We stop at the gas station.' Short o → stop-pen, double p.

Listen to the vowel, then choose: lopen, maken, halen (long, single) versus stoppen, pakken, bellen (short, double).

Fix 3 — The silent -dt: hij wordt

This one has no audible clue at all, which is exactly why it is so error-prone — even native speakers slip on it. When a verb stem already ends in -d and you add the -t of the third person singular (hij/zij/het), you write both letters: stem word- + t = wordt. You hear only a t (final devoicing flattens the d), but you write dt.

❌ Hij word morgen achttien.

Wrong — third person needs the -t ending on top of the stem's d: word + t.

✅ Hij wordt morgen achttien.

'He turns eighteen tomorrow.' Stem word- + t = wordt.

❌ Dat gebeurt nooit, het word steeds erger.

Wrong — worden has stem word-, so 'it gets' is het wordt.

✅ Dat gebeurt nooit, het wordt steeds erger.

'That never happens, it just keeps getting worse.'

The mirror trap is writing dt where it doesn't belong (ik wordt is wrong — ik word, no extra t in the ik-form). The full decision procedure is on the -dt errors page; for triage, just remember: stem ending in -d, plus a he/she/it subject, equals -dt.

Fix 4 — v/f and z/s in plurals: huis → huizen

Because Dutch never ends a word in a voiced v or z, the singular shows f or s — but the plural restores the voiced letter. Forgetting the swap produces wrong plurals like huisen or brieffen.

❌ In deze straat staan mooie huisen.

Wrong — the plural of huis restores the z: huizen.

✅ In deze straat staan mooie huizen.

'There are beautiful houses on this street.' huis → huizen (s → z).

❌ Ik heb twee brieffen geschreven.

Wrong — brief pluralises with v, not double f: brieven.

✅ Ik heb twee brieven geschreven.

'I've written two letters.' brief → brieven (f → v).

The reason is final devoicing made visible: the voiced sound was always there underneath; the singular just couldn't show it at the end of the word.

Fix 5 — The apostrophe plural: foto's

Most Dutch plurals add -en or -s with no apostrophe (tafels, huizen). But a word ending in a single stressed vowel letter — a, o, u, i, y — takes 's to keep the vowel long: foto → foto's, baby → baby's, menu → menu's, oma → oma's. Writing fotos would invite reading the o as short.

❌ Ik heb honderd fotos gemaakt op vakantie.

Wrong — a word ending in a single vowel takes 's: foto's.

✅ Ik heb honderd foto's gemaakt op vakantie.

'I took a hundred photos on holiday.'

❌ De omas passen op de kinderen.

Wrong — oma ends in a single vowel, so: oma's.

✅ De oma's passen op de kinderen.

'The grandmas are looking after the kids.'

Crucially, this is not the English "grocer's apostrophe": you do not sprinkle apostrophes on ordinary plurals. auto ends in a single o, so auto's — but tafel ends in a consonant, so plain tafels, never tafel's. (Full coverage: the trema and the apostrophe.)

Fix 6 — Bonus: -en vs -e and the schwa trap

A frequent A2 slip is dropping the -n from -en endings because you don't hear it clearly (Dutch often swallows final -n in speech). The written plural and infinitive keep the n: lopen, huizen, boeken — not lope, huize, boeke. Write the full -en even though your ear may only catch the schwa.

❌ Wij hebben drie boeke gekocht.

Wrong — the spoken -n is dropped but you still write it: boeken.

✅ Wij hebben drie boeken gekocht.

'We bought three books.'

The before/after checklist

Check	Wrong	Right	Why
Vowel doubling	mannen (for 'moons')	manen	long aa → single in open syllable
Consonant doubling	loppen	lopen	long oo → single p
Silent -dt	hij word	hij wordt	stem word- + ending -t
v/f in plural	brieffen	brieven	final f reveals voiced v
z/s in plural	huisen	huizen	final s reveals voiced z
Apostrophe plural	fotos	foto's	single vowel-letter ending → 's

Common Mistakes

The six fixes above are the common-mistakes content of this page; here are three more cross-cutting traps to watch.

❌ ik wordt

Wrong — the ik-form has no extra t: just ik word (stem only).

✅ ik word, hij wordt

'I become, he becomes' — -dt only with he/she/it.

❌ tafel's, auto's both treated the same

Wrong — only vowel-final words take 's: auto's but plain tafels.

✅ auto's, tafels

'cars', 'tables'.

❌ Spelling by English phonics: 'boeke', 'hoep' for hopen

Wrong — keep the full -en ending and trust Dutch vowel-length rules, not English ones.

✅ boeken, wij hopen

'books', 'we hope'.

Key Takeaways

Six fixes cover most A2 spelling errors: vowel doubling, consonant doubling, -dt, v/f, z/s, and the foto's apostrophe.
Vowel and consonant doubling both come from vowel length — add the ending and listen (manen vs mannen, lopen vs stoppen).
hij wordt has no sound clue: stem word- plus -t. The ik-form is just word.
Plurals restore voiced letters: huis → huizen, brief → brieven.
Only words ending in a single stressed vowel take 's: foto's, oma's — never tafel's.

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