The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Dutch words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best Dutch flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Dutch words, like huis, water, tijd, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common Dutch words · Updated July 2026
| Dutch | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| huis | house, home | Ons huis is groot. |
| water | water | Ik drink water. |
| tijd | time | Ik heb geen tijd. |
| dag | day | Elke dag leer ik Nederlands. |
| jaar | year | Dit jaar reis ik naar Nederland. |
| man | man; husband | Die man is mijn vader. |
| vrouw | woman; wife | De vrouw werkt in de stad. |
| kind | child | Het kind speelt buiten. |
| hand | hand | Geef me je hand. |
| boek | book | Ik lees een boek. |
| school | school | De kinderen gaan naar school. |
| werk | work, job | Ik ga naar mijn werk. |
| stad | city, town | Amsterdam is een mooie stad. |
| land | country, land | Nederland is een klein land. |
| auto | car | Hij heeft een nieuwe auto. |
| vriend | friend | Hij is mijn goede vriend. |
| zijn | to be | Ik ben moe. |
| hebben | to have | Ik heb een hond. |
| gaan | to go | Wij gaan naar huis. |
| doen | to do | Wat doe je? |
| zien | to see | Ik zie een vogel. |
| weten | to know | Ik weet het niet. |
| zeggen | to say | Wat zeg je? |
| komen | to come | Kom je morgen? |
| maken | to make | Zij maakt het eten. |
| willen | to want | Ik wil koffie. |
| kunnen | can, to be able to | Kun je zwemmen? |
| moeten | must, to have to | Ik moet nu gaan. |
| geven | to give | Hij geeft mij een cadeau. |
| eten | to eat | Wij eten om zes uur. |
| drinken | to drink | Zij drinkt thee. |
| goed | good | Dit is een goed idee. |
| groot | big, large | Zij heeft een groot huis. |
| klein | small, little | De kat is klein. |
| mooi | beautiful, nice | Wat een mooie dag! |
| nieuw | new | Ik heb een nieuwe telefoon. |
| oud | old | Mijn opa is oud. |
| lang | long, tall | Hij is erg lang. |
| blij | happy, glad | Ik ben blij. |
| veel | much, many | Ik heb niet veel geld. |
| ik | I | Ik woon in Utrecht. |
| jij | you (singular, informal) | Jij bent aardig. |
| hij | he | Hij werkt in Amsterdam. |
| zij | she; they | Zij leest een boek. |
| wij | we | Wij spreken Nederlands. |
| de | the (common gender) | De hond slaapt. |
| het | the (neuter); it | Het huis is oud. |
| een | a, an; one | Ik zie een kat. |
| en | and | Hij en zij komen samen. |
| of | or | Wil je thee of koffie? |
| maar | but | Ik wil wel, maar ik kan niet. |
| niet | not | Dat is niet waar. |
| in | in | De kat zit in de doos. |
| op | on | Het boek ligt op de tafel. |
| met | with | Ik drink koffie met melk. |
| van | of; from | Dit is het huis van mijn ouders. |
| voor | for; in front of | Deze bloemen zijn voor jou. |
| naar | to, towards | Zij gaat naar de winkel. |
| ja | yes | Ja, dat klopt. |
| wat | what | Wat is dit? |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Dutch with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Dutch. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best Dutch books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Dutch CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Dutch? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Dutch words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Dutch word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Dutch, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Dutch text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Dutch at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.