How to Count in Dutch

Mini Lesson Counting 1-1000

Even though most Dutch people speak English, it is very useful to know the numbers. You may have to give your telephone number to someone and would not it be fun if you can say this in Dutch? Knowing your numbers also comes in handy when you are waiting for your turn in a shop. Very often you have to pull a number from a dispenser. You certainly don’t want your number being called out and not recognising it!

Numbers

This mini-lesson teaches you the numbers 1 – 1000 in four minutes! It’s easy because many numbers resemble English. There is one tricky thing, though. Coumpound numbers like 21 (twenty-one) or pronounced back to front: 21 eenentwintig (one and twenty).

This word order is not very extraordinary as it used to be the way numbers were pronounced in the past in English. Jane Austen and Shakespeare did. So did A.E Housman in his poem: When I was One-and-Twenty.

Listen to the video below and you will be able to count from 1 to 1000 in a jiffy.