A2 Dutch Grammar Recap: Everything You Can Do Now | A2 Dutch, Lesson 24
Welcome to lesson twenty-four — the final lesson of the A2 Dutch Grammar Course. This lesson is a review. There is no new grammar. Instead, you will see the most important rules from all twenty-three previous lessons organised in clear groups. Use this lesson to check what you have learned, fill any gaps, and prepare for the review exercises. Let's look at everything you now know.
Werkwoorden en tijden — een overzicht
Let us start with the tenses. The perfectum uses hebben or zijn as the auxiliary plus the past participle. Most verbs use hebben. Verbs of movement or change of state use zijn — zij is gekomen, hij is vertrokken. Regular past participles are formed with ge-, the stem, and either -d or -t. Irregular forms must be memorised. The imperfectum follows the softketchup rule for weak verbs and has irregular forms for strong verbs. For the future, use gaan plus an infinitive for planned actions, zullen plus an infinitive for promises or predictions, or simply the present tense with a future time expression.
Werkwoordsvormen — scheidbaar, reflexief, progressief
Separable verbs split in the main clause — the prefix moves to the end. In the infinitive and past participle it stays attached, and in a subordinate clause the verb reattaches. Inseparable verbs — those with be-, ver-, ont-, her-, or ge- — never split, and their past participle does not add ge-. Reflexive verbs always appear with a reflexive pronoun matching the subject. The imperative uses only the stem for you-singular, adds -t for the formal u. For an action in progress, use zijn plus aan het plus the infinitive.
Zinsbouw — woordvolgorde en bijzinnen
In a Dutch statement main clause, the finite verb is at position two. When a time or place expression opens the sentence, the subject moves after the verb — this is called inversie. In a subordinate clause introduced by omdat, als, dat, or of, all verbs go to the end. The om-te construction uses om at the start, followed by the rest of the clause, then te plus the infinitive at the end. Indirect speech uses dat for statements and of for yes-no questions — in both cases, the verb goes to the end of the clause.
Naamwoorden, bezit en er is/zijn
Nouns form their plural with -en, -s, or -'s with an apostrophe. Spelling changes apply when you add -en: short vowel doubles the consonant, long vowel drops one letter, and final -f or -s becomes -v or -z. A few plurals are irregular and must be memorised. For possession, use the van-construction, a possessive adjective, or a name plus -s. Ons is used before het-words and onze before de-words and plurals. When adding -s to a name, usually attach the s directly, as in Peters fiets and Mariekes boek. Use apostrophe-s after a long final vowel sound written with one vowel, as in Petra's auto, and use only an apostrophe when the name ends in -s, -x, or -z. Er is introduces a singular noun, er zijn introduces a plural noun.
Overige grammatica — een overzicht
The comparative adds -er to the adjective and the superlative adds -st. A few are irregular — goed, beter, best and veel, meer, meest. Adjectives before nouns usually add -e, but there is no -e after een before a singular het-word: een groot huis, not een grote huis. Predicative adjectives also have no -e: de auto is groot. Many Dutch verbs require a fixed preposition — wachten op, houden van, zorgen voor. Learn these as vocabulary pairs. Indefinite pronouns and adverbs come in positive-negative pairs — iemand and niemand, iets and niets, ergens and nergens, ooit and nooit. For general statements, use je, ze, or men as impersonal subjects. And for which or every/each, use welk, elk, or ieder before het-words, and welke, elke, or iedere before de-words.
Wat kun je nu?
Look at what you can do now. You can talk about the past with the perfectum and imperfectum. You can express future plans and predictions. You can use complex verb forms — separable, inseparable, reflexive. You can build sentences with subordinate clauses, express purpose with om-te, and report what someone said. You know how to form plurals, show possession, compare things, and describe nouns with adjectives. You can ask which and say every with the correct forms, and you can use indefinite pronouns and impersonal subjects naturally. This is A2-level Dutch. Congratulations — you have completed the course.
| ✓ Talk about past events using the perfectum and imperfectum | ✓ Use correct word order in main clauses and subordinate clauses |
|---|---|
| ✓ Describe future plans, predictions, and promises | ✓ Form irregular plurals and express possession |
| ✓ Use separable, inseparable, and reflexive verbs correctly | ✓ Compare things and use adjectives with correct inflection |
| ✓ Build complex sentences with subordinate clauses | ✓ Ask which questions and say every with welk and elk or ieder |
| ✓ Express purpose with om...te and report speech with dat and of | ✓ Use indefinite pronouns and impersonal subjects naturally |
Practice What You Learned
Reading about grammar is step one — using it is what makes it stick. In My Dutch Journal Academy you can watch the full video of this lesson, do interactive exercises that check your answers instantly, and practise all the vocabulary from the A2 course.
Follow us on Instagram for bite-sized Dutch grammar every week.
Continue the course
← Previous lesson: Welk or Welke? Which in Dutch — Plus elk and ieder
Veel succes en tot de volgende les! (Good luck and see you in the next lesson!)
