How close are Dutch and German?
Closely related, and Dutch is markedly simpler grammatically — which is why it is often the easier of the two for English speakers.
Both are West Germanic, the same branch as English, and the family resemblance is easy to see in basic vocabulary. Dutch often sits visibly between English and German.
Grammar is where they separate. German keeps four cases and three genders with a full declension system; Dutch has largely shed its case system and merged two of its genders. For an English speaker, that makes Dutch the gentler entry point despite the two languages looking similar on the page.
Word order also differs in practice. German is verb-second in main clauses and verb-final in subordinate ones, a pattern learners find genuinely difficult. Dutch shares the tendency but applies it less rigidly.
Side by side
| Dutch | German | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system | Latin | Latin |
| Reading direction | Left to right | Left to right |
| Language family | Indo-European | Indo-European |
| Word order | subject-verb-object (SVO) | subject-object-verb (SOV) |
| Speakers | Approximately 24 million native speakers worldwide, with 17 million in the Netherlands and 6.5 million in Belgium. | Approximately 90-100 million native speakers worldwide, with 76 million in Germany, 8.9 million in Austria, 4.6 million in Switzerland. |
- ✓ Same writing system — text from one looks familiar to readers of the other.
- ✓ Same language family — expect shared vocabulary roots.
- ✗ Different word order — sentences have to be restructured, not substituted.
The same phrases in both
Nothing shows how close two languages are like seeing identical meaning rendered in each. These are independent translations of the same English source.
Greetings
| Dutch | German |
|---|---|
| Hallo | Hallo |
| Goedemorgen | Guten Morgen |
| Goedemiddag | Guten Tag |
| Goedenavond | Guten Abend |
| Goede nacht | Gute Nacht |
| Tot ziens | Auf Wiedersehen |
| Tot morgen | Bis morgen |
| Welkom | Willkommen |
| Hoe gaat het? | Wie geht es dir? |
| Met mij gaat het goed, dank je | Mir geht es gut, danke |
Courtesy
| Dutch | German |
|---|---|
| Alsjeblieft | Bitte |
| Dank je | Vielen Dank |
| Je bent welkom | Gern geschehen |
| Ja | Ja |
| Nee | Nein |
| Pardon | Entschuldigung |
| Het spijt me | Es tut mir leid |
| Geen probleem | Kein Problem |
| Natuurlijk | Natürlich |
| Gefeliciteerd | Herzlichen Glückwunsch |
Introductions
| Dutch | German |
|---|---|
| Wat is jouw naam? | Wie heißt du? |
| Leuk je te ontmoeten | Schön, Sie kennenzulernen |
| Waar kom je vandaan? | Woher kommst du? |
| Hoe oud ben je? | Wie alt bist du? |
| Ik ben een student | Ich bin Student |
| Ik ben hier op vakantie | Ich bin hier im Urlaub |
| Ik ben hier voor werk | Ich bin wegen der Arbeit hier |
| Dit is mijn vriend | Das ist mein Freund |
Numbers
| Dutch | German |
|---|---|
| Eén | Eins |
| Twee | Zwei |
| Drie | Drei |
| Vier | Vier |
| Vijf | Fünf |
| Zes | Sechs |
| Zeven | Sieben |
| Acht | Acht |
| Negen | Neun |
| Tien | Zehn |
In practice
Do not assume German study transfers cleanly to Dutch reading, or vice versa. Shared vocabulary helps; the grammar does not map.
Other comparisons
Method and limitations
The structural rows — writing system, family, word order, speaker numbers — are taken from each language's own entry in our language data. The assessment of mutual intelligibility is editorial: it reflects the general consensus, and intelligibility always varies by speaker, dialect and exposure.
The phrase comparison uses the same 116 seed phrases translated into every language we support, so the two columns are independent translations of identical English source text rather than one translated through the other. Those translations are machine generated; the sample skips any row where one side repeats an earlier row, since a collapsed translation shows nothing useful.