Knowing some of the Dutch grammar will help you understand how the language is build up, and it will also help you to understand the basic phrases better. The Dutch grammar guide presented at LanguageTrav.com should in no way be considered as complete, and if you would like to acquire an in-depth understanding we recomment you to purchase books or DVDs for further learning. The good news is that especially when you are traveling to The Netherlands, virtually everyone will speak English as a second language. However, it is a polite gesture to ask first.

Adjectives are used to describe a noun, as in for example "the white hat" or "the small country". You will find some commonly used adjectives in the table below:

Dutch		English		Dutch		English
goed	=	good, right		slecht	=	bad
mooi	=	pretty		lelijk	=	ugly
groot	=	big		klein	=	small
hoog	=	high		laag	=	low
lang	=	long, tall		kort	=	short

If an adjective is used together with a noun, the actual form of the adjective might change. In the case of a definite article, the adjective is placed between the article and the noun. Furthermore, the suffix -e is added to the adjective. Again, the original sound of the word should be preserved, meaning that double vowels might have to be made single, and single consonant might have to be doubled. For example:

Dutch		English		Dutch		English
goed	=	good, right		De goede richting.	=	The right direction.
mooi	=	pretty		Het mooie meisje.	=	The pretty girl.
groot	=	big		De grote stad.	=	The big city.
hoog	=	high		De hoge berg.	=	The high mountain.
lang	=	long, tall		De lange reis.	=	The long trip.

In the case of an indefinite article een, all adjectives in combination of de-words get the suffix -e. However, all adjectives in combination with het-words remain unchanged. For example:

Dutch		English		Dutch		English
goed	=	good		Een goede richting.	=	A right direction.
mooi	=	pretty		Een mooi meisje.	=	A pretty girl.
groot	=	big		Een grote stad.	=	A big city.
hoog	=	high		Een hoge berg.	=	A high mountain.
lang	=	long, tall		Een lange reis.	=	A long trip.

This rule is also applied when the noun is used without an article. For example:

Dutch		English
Lekkere koffie!	=	Tasty coffee!
Goede reis!	=	(Have a) good trip!
In Groningen zijn er prachtige dorpen.	=	There are beautiful villages in Groningen.

When an adjective is placed at the end of the scentence, such as in "the hat is white" or "the villages are beautiful", the adjective used remains unchanged. Furthermore, the adjective is placed after the verb. For example:

Dit is lekkere koffie (This is tasty coffee)	but	Deze koffie is lekker (This coffe is tasty)
De goede reis (The good trip)	but	De reis was goed (The trip was good)
In Groningen zijn er prachtige dorpen (There are beautiful villages in Groningen)	but	De dorpen in Groningen zijn prachtig (The villages in Groningen are beautiful)

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