Dutch conversation for beginners: your first scene, line by line
Updated 2026-10-18
A first Dutch conversation is short: a greeting, one request, one question back, and goodbye. Below is a complete A1 exchange at the bakery with English and notes, then lines from a recorded Convola scene, then what changes at A2.
What A1 asks of you
At A1 you are not expected to chat. You are expected to get one thing done. In a Convola scene at this level the other person uses three to six words a sentence, stays in the present tense, and asks questions you can answer with yes, no, or one of two options. If you look lost, they say less, not more.
You can type instead of speaking while this still feels like too much. The tutor explains every note in English.
At the bakker: a complete A1 dialogue
A scene buying bread and a krentenbol, a currant bun, could go like this. It is an example written for this page in the format of the app:
- Bakker
- Goedemorgen, zegt u het maar.Good morning, what can I get you?
- You
- Goedemorgen. Ik wil graag een bruin brood.Good morning. I'd like a brown loaf, please.
- Bakker
- Heel of half?Whole or half?
- You
- Half, graag.Half, please.
- Bakker
- Gesneden?Sliced?
- You
- Ja, graag. En één krentenbol.Yes, please. And one currant bun.
- Bakker
- Anders nog iets?Anything else?
- You
- Nee, dank u wel. Kan ik pinnen?No, thank you. Can I pay by card?
- Bakker
- Natuurlijk. Fijne dag.Of course. Have a nice day.
Notes on the lines
- Zegt u het maar is what shop staff say when it is your turn. You do not answer it; you just order.
- Ik wil graag plus the thing is the polite all-purpose request. Graag on its own means please, yes.
- Heel of half? is a choice question, the kind A1 scenes use. One word back is a full answer.
- Anders nog iets? comes at the end of almost every purchase. Nee, dank u wel closes it.
- Pinnen is paying by debit card.
- U is the polite you, jij the familiar one. Dutch has both, and a shop is a safe place to start with u.
Notice how little grammar the whole exchange needs. What it does need is speed: the questions come quickly, and a short answer given at once keeps the conversation in Dutch.
From a recorded Convola conversation
These lines are from a conversation recorded with the app at an OV-fiets counter, where you rent a station bike. Hatice works there, and she opens with a choice question, as A1 scenes do:
- Hatice
- Goedemorgen! Wil je een fiets huren, of heb je een vraag over je kaartje?Good morning! Do you want to rent a bike, or do you have a question about your ticket?
A little later she asks whether the learner has an OV-chipkaart, the Dutch travel card. The learner answers:
- You
- Ja, ik heb een OV-chipkaart. Morgen ik breng de fiets terug, is dat goed?Yes, I have an OV-chipkaart. I'll bring the bike back tomorrow, is that OK?
That line got a note from the tutor:
Morgen ik breng de fiets terug
Morgen breng ik de fiets terug
After a time word like 'morgen' the verb must come second, so the subject follows the verb.
This rule is worth learning early. In a Dutch main clause the verb comes second. Start with morgen, vandaag or nu, and ik moves behind the verb: Vandaag werk ik thuis.
A step up: the same kind of scene at A2
At A2 people use up to about ten words, and talk about what happened and what is about to happen. A visit to the apotheek with a cold could start like this (an example, not a recording):
- Apotheker
- Hallo. Waarmee kan ik je helpen?Hello. How can I help you?
- You
- Ik ben verkouden. Ik heb sinds gisteren keelpijn.I have a cold. I've had a sore throat since yesterday.
- Apotheker
- Heb je ook koorts gehad? Dan geef ik je iets anders.Have you had a fever as well? Then I'll give you something else.
The new things are a past tense (gehad) and a consequence with dan, then. The request is still one thing. You are ready for A2 when the bakery scene feels boring.
Good first scenes
From the Dutch app's A1 list, these are the gentlest starts:
- Buying bread and a krentenbol at the bakker.
- Asking the way to the Domtoren in Utrecht.
- Renting an OV-fiets at the station, as in the recording above.
- The supermarket checkout, and the question of whether you want a bag.
Every word you tap in a scene can become a vocab card, so the bakery words come back without a list to learn. When you want more scenes by level, see Dutch conversation practice.