Do you want to learn how to speak Dutch but can’t wrap your head around the scratchy Gs and weird word order?

Sometimes keeping it short can make a world of difference when speaking a new language, so here are some easy sentences to get you going.

If you immigrated to the Netherlands, learning the language is great for work, groceries, or feeling more connected. But for some, Dutch can be a little tricky — I’ve been there!

So now, allow me to teach you the seven words you can drop into a conversation to instantly sound more native and put a smile on some Dutch faces.

1. Lekker — nice, sweet, tasty, good, etc.

You can use this word for almost anything. Pretty much anything remotely good is lekker. When applied to food, it means that the food was tasty.

Example:

🇳🇱: Hoe zijn de worsten? Heel lekker.
🇬🇧: How are the sausages? Very nice.

You can also apply it to people. A good-looking person is referred to as a lekkerding, which translates literally to a “sweet thing”.

I have discovered that this word is basically limitless. The most common Dutch saying goodnight is slaap lekker, which translates to “sleep well”.

2. Leuk — nice, cool, fun.

This word means more or less the same thing as lekker, but it refers more to things you do —anything from having a new book to holidays or a pleasant cycle.

Example:

🇳🇱: Ik heb een nieuwe boek, leuk man.
🇬🇧: I have a new book, nice, man.

🇳🇱: Mijn vakantie was echt leuk.
🇬🇧: My vacation was really fun.

Something doesn’t necessarily need to be mind-blowing to be leuk; something as standard as taking a bath can be leuk.

So, the term can be applied to basically everything, from the mundane to the incredible.

Obviously, though, you should not use it for bad events and occurrences. Replying with leuk, man, after someone tells you they attended a funeral at the weekend might not go down too well. 😬

3. Zeker — certainly, certain, definitely.

You can use this word to respond to pretty much any yes-or-no question positively.

Example:

🇳🇱: Was het leuk? Zeker man.
🇬🇧: Was it fun? Definitely, man.

After someone has made a statement, you can also use this to agree with the other person.

Example:

🇳🇱: Het was echt leuk. Zeker man.
🇬🇧: It was really fun. Certainly, man.

The equivalent in English would be more along the lines of “true true” to agree with what the other person said, although perhaps this is just my Australian slang.

When checking whether someone is sure about something, the word can also be phrased as a question.

Example:

🇳🇱: Zeker, man?
🇬🇧: Are you sure, man?

4. Zo — so, Enzo — and so on.

You can add this word to the end of almost any sentence, just to round it off, and add a bit of flavour. It is like the salt of the Dutch language. It is not necessarily needed at any time, but you can use it with anything.

Zo or enzo means something along the lines of “and so on”, or “and that”.

Example:

🇳🇱: Het is echt mooi en echt lekker en zo.
🇬🇧: It is really beautiful and really nice and so on.

Enzo the equivalent of ‘etc.’ in English.

5. Mooi — pretty, beautiful, sweet, good.

Basically, anything in Dutch can be mooi, or “pretty”. Although the direct English translation will tell you it means something like “pretty”, it’s actually more along the lines of “beautiful”.

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A town or a city can be mooi. A person can also be mooi.

Example

🇳🇱: Zij is heel mooi.
🇬🇧: She is really beautiful.

It does not just apply to girls, though; a guy can also be referred to as mooi.

The first time my girlfriend said I was mooi, I wasn’t sure whether she was teasing me because in English, if you say a guy is “pretty”, then it is usually because you are teasing them.

It’s like saying a guy is a “pretty boy”. You can also reply to most things with mooi zo, which translates as “beautifully so”.

Example:

🇳🇱: Ik heb een nieuwe laptop. Mooi zo.
🇬🇧: I have a new laptop. Beautiful so.

In this case, mooi zo means more like “good for you”. It might sound strange, but it just means you think what they are telling you is sweet or good in general.

6. Echt — really, really?

This word is translated simply as “really”. Similarly to the English “really” or “very”, echt can be used as an adverb.

Example:

🇳🇱: Het is echt lekker.
🇬🇧: It is really nice.

It can also be used as an exclamation to express surprise or to ask a question, just like asking “really?” in English.

Example:

🇳🇱: Ja, het was heel mooi. Echt?
🇬🇧: Yeah, it was really beautiful. Really?!

It may have a simple meaning, but it pops up frequently in Dutch conversations, so do familiarise yourself with it.

7. Hoor — sure

This word doesn’t really translate into English. You could say it translates as “surely” or “sure”.

It works similarly to echt, functioning as an adverb. It is mostly used for added emphasis, particularly when saying something confidently, for example.

Example:

🇳🇱: Wil je wijn? Ja hoor.
🇬🇧: Do you want wine? Yeah, sure.

You can also use it to disagree with something.

Example:

🇳🇱: We komen te laat. Nee, hoor.
🇬🇧: Are we going to be late? Nah, surely not.

HOWEVER, be careful how you pronounce it. Just remember, it is pronounced exactly like the word “whore” in English.

At first, I didn’t feel comfortable saying this because I was worried I might be misunderstood. I was met with a few dirty looks from Dutch women when I started trying to use it in conversation.

I later found out I was pronouncing it like the Dutch word hoer, which is actually equivalent to the English word “whore”. So be careful about that, or else you might end up sounding like Frank Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

To be clearer and also make things easier for myself, I emphasised the double O sound.

Bonus points — Man

Same as English. This word means “man”, as in the way we use “dude”.

Add it to the end of every sentence for some personality — until it gets annoying. Kinda like how Jesse Pinkman from ‘Breaking Bad’ ends every sentence with “bitch”.

Example conversations:

I wish I could say it is an exaggeration, but this is a word-for-word transcript of an actual conversation I overheard:

Hoe was Leiden man? (How was Leiden, man?)
Echt leuk, man! Het was echt leuk, echt mooi en ook lekker rustig en zo. (Really fun, man! It was really fun, really beautiful and also nice and quiet.)
Echt man? (Really, man?)
Zeker man. (Definitely, man.)
Lekker man. (Nice, man.)
Mooi zo, man. (Beautifully so, man.)
Het is echt mooi en zo, man. (That is really beautiful and so, man.)
Ja hoor, man. (Yeah, sure, man.)

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Remember these seven basic words, and you should be able to blend them into any Dutch conversation.

Just make sure to say “man” at the end of every sentence, and most importantly, learn how to pronounce hoor correctly.

Good luck! Succes!

Which of these Dutch words do you look forward to trying out? Practice it in the comments below!

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