Common English mistakes Dutch speakers make, and how to fix them

Dutch is one of the closest relatives of English, and the Netherlands came first in the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index. That closeness is also the catch: a Dutch sentence carried over word for word is almost English. The mistakes that remain come from Dutch grammar, from a few sounds Dutch does not have and from a set of look-alike words. Linguists call this transfer. It is not carelessness, and each pattern has a clear fix.

The big ones. 1) "How late is it?" (hoe laat is het) → "What time is it?". 2) "I sent my solicitation" (sollicitatie) → "my job application"; "beamer" → "projector"; a Dutch "map" is a "folder" and a Dutch "chef" is a "boss" or "manager". 3) "I have it cold" (ik heb het koud) → "I'm cold". 4) "Learn" for "teach" ("leren" covers both): "he learned me" → "he taught me". 5) "When" for "if" ("als" covers both): "When you have questions, call me" → "If you have questions, call me". 6) "Since" with the present (sinds): "I live here since 2019" → "I've lived here since 2019". 7) "Make" for "take" and "do" (maken): "make a photo" → "take a photo", "make my homework" → "do my homework". 8) Look-alike words: "actueel" is "current", not "actual"; "eventueel" is "possibly", not "eventually"; "brutaal" is "cheeky" or "rude", not "brutal". 9) "th" said as "t" or "d" ("tink", "dat"), and a "w" close to "v", so "wine" sounds like "vine". 10) Voiced endings that go voiceless ("bad" like "bat", "have" like "haf"), and one vowel for both "bad" and "bed".

Reading a list does not change how you speak. What helps is saying the sentence out loud and seeing the right version just after the slip. That is what Airi is for: you talk, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation going. It is free to start, and no card is needed.

Dutch sentences that turn into Dunglish when translated word for word

Each row is a correct Dutch sentence carried into English one word at a time. People understand it and still hear that something is off, and in the last row the two of you end up an hour apart.

Dutch grammar that transfers badly: tenses, word order, articles, plurals

• Perfect for finished events. "Ik heb hem gisteren gebeld" is normal Dutch, so "I have called him yesterday" slips out. With a finished time, English uses the simple past: "I called him yesterday."
• "Al" with the present. "Ik werk hier al vijf jaar" becomes "I work here already five years." English uses "have" and "for": "I've been working here for five years."
• Simple present for right now. "Wat doe je nu?" is the normal Dutch question, which gives "What do you do now?" Something in progress needs "-ing": "What are you doing now?"
• "Would" after "if". Dutch allows "zou" in both halves ("Als ik tijd zou hebben, zou ik helpen"), hence "If I would have time, I would help." English uses the past tense in the "if" half: "If I had time, I would help."
• Time before place. "Ik ga morgen naar Londen" gives "I go tomorrow to London." English puts the place first: "I'm going to London tomorrow."
• Adverbs without "-ly". Dutch uses one form for the adjective and the adverb, so "He drives very careful" appears. Say "He drives very carefully."
• Articles. "Ik ben docent" has no article and "de meeste mensen" has one. English does the opposite: "I'm a teacher" and "most people".
• Plurals after numbers. Dutch normally keeps "jaar" and "uur" singular after a number: "vijf jaar", "drie uur". English needs the plural: "five years", "three hours".

Prepositions Dutch speakers carry over from Dutch

A teaching card from the language research team at Cambridge University Press, "Common English errors when a learner's first language is Dutch", names the wrong preposition as the most common grammatical error. The usual cause is a Dutch preposition translated on its own, so learn each English phrase below as one piece.

The English sound contrasts Dutch blurs, and how to make each one

Dutch has no "th" and turns a final b, d, v or z into p, t, f or s: "hond" ends in a "t" sound. In much of the Netherlands "w" is made with the top teeth close to the lower lip, where English uses rounded lips. Each contrast below can turn one English word into another.

Dutch-English false friends that slip past fluent speakers

Two of these change the message and not just the style. "We control every order" says you are in charge of the orders, not that you check them. And "I will" announces what you are going to do, where "ik wil" only says what you want.

A Dunglish drill for Dutch speakers to run out loud with Airi

People who understand you rarely stop to correct you, which is how these habits survive in otherwise fluent English. Airi answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time. She gives no pronunciation score, so her reply is your check: if she answers about a "vest" when you said "west", say it again. The free credits last about eight minutes, enough for two or three of these steps.

1. Set the target: "Dutch is my first language. Tell me when I use 'have called' with a finished time, or 'would' after 'if'."
2. Describe yesterday in the simple past: "I got up at seven, cycled to work and had lunch at my desk."
3. Ask for three "What would you do if ...?" questions and answer "If I had ..., I'd ...".
4. Put your weak sounds into one sentence: "On Thursday we drove west with my dad's dog."
5. When a small fix appears, say the corrected sentence aloud before you move on.

How to get the most from it

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 2026-10-03