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### The Little Words That Make Dutch Sound Dutch

Dutch conversation runs on small words. They rarely translate one-to-one, but they appear in nearly every spoken sentence. This lesson collects the most important ones.

### Still and More: **nog** and **meer**

**Nog** means "still" or "yet" — it says that something continues.

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**Meer** means "more". Use it before a noun, just like in English.

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### The Positive **wel**

You know **niet** (not). **Wel** is its positive mirror: it stresses that something IS the case. English does this with stress — "I DO want water" — Dutch simply says **wel**.

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### Softeners: **toch**, **eens**, **nou**

These three particles change the tone of a sentence, not its facts:

| particle | flavor |
|---|---|
| **toch** | "...right?" — asks for agreement, or insists |
| **eens** | softens a command to a friendly request |
| **nou** | "well..." — buys a moment to think |

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### Drawing Conclusions: **dus**

**Dus** means "so" or "therefore". It connects a reason to its result, and the word order after it stays normal.

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### Really: **echt**

**Echt** intensifies whatever follows it — "really" or "genuinely".

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### Alone, Everything, Gone: **alleen**, **alles**, **weg**

**Alleen** means "alone" — and also "only", depending on context:

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**Alles** is "everything", and when something has disappeared, it is **weg** (gone).

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Conversational glue

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

determiner/pronoun

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (de, het)

Indefinite article and formal 'you' (een, u)

Big and small (groot, klein)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (wij zijn)

The verb 'to have' (hebben)

Basic word order

Numbers 1 to 10 (een, twee, drie)

Verb stems and the 'I' form (ik werk)

Long vowels in verb stems (maken, ik maak)

Short vowels in verb stems (zitten, ik zit)

Present tense singular (-t)

Present tense plural (-en)

Yes/no questions

Question words (wie, wat, waar)

Noun negation (geen)

Plural nouns (-en)

Plural nouns (-s)

Diminutives (-je)

Adjective modifiers (heel, erg, te)

Verb negation (niet)

Singular possessives (mijn, jouw, zijn, haar)

Plural and formal possessives (ons/onze, jullie, hun, uw)

This and these (deze, dit)

That and those (die, dat)

Asking which (welke, welk)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elf, twaalf, dertien...)

Tens and compound numbers (dertig, veertig...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (eerste, tweede...)

Telling time: hours and half hours (uur, half)

Telling time: quarters (kwart over, kwart voor)

Question words (hoeveel, waarom)

Irregular verbs (doen, gaan, staan, zien, komen)

Adjective endings (+e)

Adjectives with 'het' words

Prepositions of place (uit, bij)

Subject-verb inversion

Time before place

Modal verbs (willen, kunnen)

Modal verbs (moeten, mogen)

The verb bracket

Separable prefix verbs

The imperative mood (kom, luister)

Singular object pronouns (mij, jou, hem, haar)

Plural and formal object pronouns (ons, jullie, hen, u)

Reflexive verbs and pronouns (zich, me, je)

Position of negation (niet)

The present perfect tense with regular verbs (hebben gewerkt)

The present perfect tense with motion verbs (zijn gegaan)

Irregular past participles (gezien, gedaan)

The present continuous (zijn aan het)

There is / there are (er is, er zijn)

Unstressed there (er)

And, but, or (en, maar, of)

Because (want)

Months of the year

Prepositions of time (om, van ... tot)

Greetings and politeness

Prepositions with days (op)

Prepositions with seasons (in)

Genitive of time ('s morgens, 's nachts)

Adverbs of frequency (altijd, vaak)

The future tense (gaan)

The future tense (zullen)

Separable verbs with auxiliary verbs

Apostrophe plurals ('-s)

Irregular plurals (-eren)

Complex diminutives (-pje, -etje, -kje)

Possessive 's (Jan's, vaders)

Indefinite pronouns (iets, niemand, alles)

Indefinite subject pronoun (je)

Reciprocal pronoun (elkaar)

Comparative adjectives (-er dan)

Comparatives with spelling change (-der)

Superlative adjectives (-st)

Irregular comparisons (beter, meer, minder)

Expressing preference (graag, liever, het liefst)

Equality comparisons (even ... als)

Fixed prepositions

That clauses (dat)

Because clauses (omdat)

If and when clauses (als)

Inversion after clauses

Separable verbs in clauses

Negation in clauses (niet)

Past tense of to be (was / waren)

Past tense of to have (had / hadden)

Past tense of modal verbs (wilde, kon, moest, mocht)

Question	Answer
still, yet / more, another (with a quantity)	nog
I am still at home.	Ik ben nog thuis.
It is still warm.	Het is nog warm.
more	meer
Do you want more water?	Wil je meer water?
I have more time.	Ik heb meer tijd.
indeed, surely (contrastive particle)	wel
I do want water.	Ik wil wel water.
He is not coming, but she is.	Hij komt niet, maar zij komt wel.
still, anyway (particle) / right? (question tag)	toch
You are coming too, right?	Jij komt toch ook?
It is beautiful anyway.	Het is toch mooi.
once, sometime (also softens commands)	eens
Come here, would you!	Kom eens hier!
Just look!	Kijk eens!
well (particle)	nou
Well, I don't know.	Nou, ik weet het niet.
Well, that is nice!	Nou, dat is mooi!
so, therefore	dus
I am tired, so I am going home.	Ik ben moe, dus ik ga naar huis.
So this is your house?	Dus dit is jouw huis?
real; really (genuinely)	echt
This cake is really sweet.	Deze taart is echt zoet.
This book is really good.	Dit boek is echt goed.
alone; only	alleen
I am home alone.	Ik ben alleen thuis.
I only have water.	Ik heb alleen water.
everything	alles
Everything is fine.	Alles is goed.
I see everything.	Ik zie alles.
away, gone	weg
The cat is gone.	De kat is weg.
My money is gone.	Mijn geld is weg.
okay	oké
Okay, I am coming tomorrow.	Oké, ik kom morgen.
Okay, that is fine.	Oké, dat is goed.
hey!	hé
Hey, where are you?	Hé, waar ben je?
Hey, that is my bicycle!	Hé, dat is mijn fiets!
eh?, right? (tag)	hè
It is warm, right?	Het is warm, hè?
You are coming too, right?	Jij komt ook, hè?
of course, naturally	natuurlijk
Of course I am coming too!	Natuurlijk kom ik ook!
Of course that is fine.	Natuurlijk is dat goed.
actually	eigenlijk
I am actually tired.	Ik ben eigenlijk moe.
Actually I want to go home.	Eigenlijk wil ik naar huis.
you know (softening tag at the end of a sentence)	hoor
That is not a problem, you know.	Dat is niet erg, hoor.
I really am coming, you know.	Ik kom echt, hoor.
No really, I am not tired.	Nee hoor, ik ben niet moe.
for example	bijvoorbeeld
I like reading, for example a book about animals.	Ik lees graag, bijvoorbeeld een boek over dieren.
We eat fruit, for example an apple.	Wij eten fruit, bijvoorbeeld een appel.

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