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CHAPTER 1

Lesson 5 · Home and personal details

Name things at home and talk about an address and personal details.

Haarlem, a town nearby Amsterdam

The picture shows Haarlem, a city near Amsterdam. In this lesson, learn words for a home and practise saying where you live.

Words around the home

Look at the objects below. Tap a number to hear the Dutch word and see its meaning. Listen, repeat aloud and practise the words again.

Tap a number for a translation and the Dutch pronunciation

Test: Type the Dutch words for the images.

Listen, look and complete

Tap the “i” icon to hear the audio or see an image. Fill in the Dutch word that matches it.

Nouns

Learn a singular noun together with its article: de vis, de pen, het mes, het hok. Many choices must be learned, but there are useful patterns. Plural nouns use de: de huizen. Singular diminutives use het: het huisje.

For one unspecified countable thing, use een: een huis. With plurals, there is no indefinite article: huizen.

Family

1 family, boy, girl

2 name, family name

3 first name, last name

4 town, name of town 

1 where do you live?

2 I live at Mauritsstraat number 8

3 where do you live?

4 I live at Alexanderplein 3

Check what you remember

1. Family, boy, girl

2. Name, family name

3. First name, last name

4. Town, name of town

1. Where do you live?

2. I live at Mauritsstraat number 8

3. Where do you live?

4. I live at Alexanderplein 3

Say your own address

Practise saying an address. You can use an invented address; you do not need to share your real address.

Passport

A passport contains several personal and document details. The numbers in this example show:

  1. Family name — De Bruijn.
  2. Given names — Willeke Liselotte. A person can have more than one given name.
  3. Place of birth — Amsterdam. This is where the person was born, not where the passport was issued.
  4. Expiry date — 20 October 2016. The Dutch label geldig tot means “valid until”. This example passport is no longer valid.

Other details include the date of birth, nationality, document number, date of issue and issuing authority. The issuing authority is listed separately under autoriteit.

The Netherlands

Words from the video

Read these words before you watch. Pause the video when a new word appears, find its meaning below and say the Dutch word aloud. Watch again to see which words you remember.

The video shows short labels, such as koe. Learn the noun with its article: de koe.

Nederlandthe Netherlands
de vlagthe flag
het strandthe beach
de zeethe sea
de autothe car
het huisthe house
de molenthe windmill
de grachtthe canal
de bootthe boat
het waterthe water
de bloementhe flowers
schaatsento ice-skate
het weilandthe meadow / pasture
de koethe cow
de boomthe tree
het schaapthe sheep
de mensenthe people
de luchtthe sky

In this video, lucht means “sky”. Schaatsen describes the activity of ice-skating.

Try it: pause on a picture and name what you see. For example: Ik zie een koe. — I see a cow.

Check your understanding

Say or write your answer first. Then open the answer to check.

Complete: ___ huis; ___ huizen.
het huis; de huizen
Make a diminutive: de stoel.
het stoeltje