German and Dutch: A Language Family

German and Dutch both belong to the West Germanic language family. They come from the same parent language, Proto-Germanic. For this reason, there are many similarities between the two languages.

Vocabulary: Many Common Words

German and Dutch have many words that are the same or very similar. These words are called "cognates." Here are some examples:

• Glas: in German Glas, in Dutch glas
• Wasser: in German Wasser, in Dutch water
• Hund: in German Hund, in Dutch hond
• Bruder: in German Bruder, in Dutch broer
• Schwester: in German Schwester, in Dutch zus

Even whole sentences can be very similar:

• Good morning: Guten Morgen in German, goedemorgen in Dutch
• Good day: Guten Tag in German, goedendag in Dutch
• It is sunny: Es ist sonnig in German, het is zonnig in Dutch

False Friends

Sometimes there are words that look similar but have a different meaning. They are called "false friends."

• In Dutch, zee means "sea" and meer means "lake." In German, See (masculine, der See) means "lake" (a body of inland water), and See (feminine, die See) means "sea."
• The Dutch word liegen means "to lie" (to tell untruths). The German word liegen means "to lie down."
• The Dutch word liegen can also mean "to be lying on something." The German word lügen means "to not tell the truth."
• In Dutch, pijnlijk means "painful." In German, peinlich means "awkward" or "embarrassing."
• In Dutch, mogen means "to be allowed." In German, mögen means "to like someone or something." However, the Dutch word can also mean "to like someone."

Pronunciation: Some Sounds Are Different

Although many words are similar, they often sound different. An important reason for this is the "High German consonant shift," which happened many centuries ago. German dialects were affected by this shift, but Dutch dialects were not.

For example, the voiceless stop consonants p, t, k in Dutch become fricatives f, s, ch in German, especially between vowels or at the end of a word after a vowel. Examples:

• Schiff: in Dutch schip, in German Schiff
• Wasser: in Dutch water, in German Wasser
• ich: in Dutch ik, in German ich

At the beginning of a word, with double consonants, or after l or r, these voiceless stop consonants become affricates (a combination of a stop and a fricative sound). Examples:

• Apfel: in Dutch appel, in German Apfel
• Herz: in Dutch hart, in German Herz

Another difference concerns d becoming t. The German t can come from an earlier d. Example:

• Tag: in Dutch dag, in German Tag

Other Sound Differences

There are also other sound differences that do not come from the High German consonant shift:

• The g in Gott: in Dutch God (often a guttural g sound), in German Gott (like the g in "go").
• The w in Wasser: in Dutch water (a sound between w and v at the beginning and in the middle of a word), in German Wasser (like the v in "van").
• The r in Jahr: in Dutch jaar (often a rolled r), in German Jahr (often a vowel sound).
• The ch in Rau: in Dutch ruw, in German rau.

Some letters are written the same but sound different, like the g. Some are written differently and sound different, like the z in Dutch (z) and the s in German (s). And some are written differently but sound similar, like the vowels in Jahr (Dutch jaar, German Jahr) or gut (Dutch goed, German gut).

In German, there is also the ß (sharp s), which is used after long vowels or diphthongs. After short vowels, ss is written. In Dutch, only s is ever written, for example, zomer (summer) in Dutch and Sommer in German.

Grammar: Important Differences

Grammar is another area with similarities and differences.

Grammatical Gender and Articles

German has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Dutch historically also had three genders, but today there are practically only two: a common gender (for masculine and feminine) and neuter.

Because of this, German has three definite articles (der, die, das) and two indefinite articles (ein, eine), while Dutch has only two definite articles (de, het) and one indefinite article (een).

Cases

German has four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative. Nouns, articles, and adjectives change their form depending on the case. For example:

• Der rote Fisch ist teuer. (The red fish is expensive. - Nominative)
• Ich mag den roten Fisch. (I like the red fish. - Accusative)

In Dutch, there used to be cases too, but they are no longer used today. This makes the Dutch language simpler to learn in this regard, as you do not have to memorize complicated case endings. For example, the form de rode vis (the red fish) stays the same in both the nominative and accusative cases.

Sentence Structure (Word Order)

In general, word order in German and Dutch is similar. It is often also similar to English:

• Ich kann sehr gut Klavier spielen. (German: I can play the piano very well.)
• Ik kan heel goed piano spelen. (Dutch: I can play the piano very well.)

In both languages, the conjugated verb is in the second position in a main clause, and the unconjugated verb or other verbs are at the end of the sentence. If there are multiple auxiliary verbs, there are slight differences in the order:

• Ich möchte Klavier spielen können. (German: I would like to be able to play the piano.)
• Ik wil piano kunnen spelen. (Dutch: I want to be able to play the piano.)

There are also similarities in subordinate clauses. The verb is at the end. Example:

• Er weiß, dass ich Klavier spielen kann. (German: He knows that I can play the piano.)
• Hij weet dat ik piano kan spelen. (Dutch: He knows that I can play the piano.)

Conditional Clauses

There are also some interesting differences in conditional clauses. For example:

• Wenn ich genug Geld hätte, würde ich mir ein Auto kaufen. (German: If I had enough money, I would buy a car.)
• Als ik genoeg geld had, zou ik een auto kopen. (Dutch: If I had enough money, I would buy a car.)

In Dutch, the indicative mood is often used, while German uses the subjunctive II to express a hypothetical situation (hätte instead of hatte). Also, in this example, German uses a reflexive pronoun (mir), which is not common in Dutch. The definite article ein is neuter and in the accusative case in German, while in Dutch there is only one form of the indefinite article.

Despite many similarities, German and Dutch are not easily mutually understandable, especially when spoken quickly. Writing is often easier to understand than speaking.