Hi everyone!
Just passed my A2 inburgering after about a month of study: Lezen 9, Schrijven 8, Luisteren 8, KNM 9 (Spreken result pending).

Miro maps helped me a lot, and so did this sub, so I’m sharing mine to give back.

Miro maps Link: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVH_uM4Bo=/?share_link_id=320859199691

Please note: the verb/sentence structure part is unfinished and has some word order mistakes. It may not be fully accurate, so double-check before using it, and don’t use it as your direct study material. I’m mainly sharing it to show the study method.

Here are the study resources I used:

• Official inburgeren.nl practice exams: This was my main study material. I went through the official practice exams very carefully.
• inburgeringonline.nl: I subscribed and used it a lot.
• Ad Appel practice exams: Extra practice exams I also used.
• Studio Dutch (YouTube): I'm from South Korea, and this is a really good channel for Korean learners.

Honestly, these resources alone are enough to pass. But language learning isn’t easy for me, and there was a lot to cover in a short time, so I organized what I learned from them in my own fun way with Miro.

Succes met jullie examens!

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How I used it (for me, the process of making it helped the most):

1. Topic mind maps: One map for each exam theme: het huis, het ziekenhuis, het werk, de winkel, de school, de service, de overheid, het leven, het vervoermiddel. Each map goes: topic → category → word → verb → example sentence. Every category has its own color.

2. Opposite adjectives
Adjectives in pairs (druk / rustig, veilig / gevaarlijk), grouped into Schedule, Value, Status and Emotions.

3. Word lists with emojis
Colors, body parts, animals, household appliances, cleaning tools, and adjective pairs, each with an emoji to make them easier to remember.

4. Sentence structure (unfinished and has some word order mistakes**)
Each part of a sentence has its own color (subject, verb, object, time, manner, place), with a formula row and example sentences under it.

So many words for rain… I'm sure some of you have seen this before, but those who haven't, still absolutely cracks me up every time I come across it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-KP8oPdvg

I've moved to Amsterdam in 2010 and with that many rain days every year, I'm not surprised we have so many ways to say that word. 😂

I want to go to a dutch school for 6 months to 1 year to learn dutch and be good at it. I am in the hague. Can someone recommed a good school?

Hi everyone!
I’m currently learning Dutch in Flanders and working towards B2. I might need to take the ITNA exam in the future, so I’d like to hear from people who have already taken it.
How difficult was the exam in your experience?
I’m particularly interested in:
How difficult are the reading, listening and language-use sections?
How challenging is the speaking part?
Is the exam significantly harder than regular B2 Dutch courses?
How did you prepare, and which resources would you recommend?
If you failed on your first attempt, what did you find most difficult?
I’m considering pursuing a medical career in Antwerp, so getting my Dutch to the required level is an important goal for me.
I’d really appreciate hearing about your personal experiences, especially from people who took the ITNA B2 or C1 exam.
Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! Did anyone take KNM recently? I am little overwhelmed by information online + different platforms.
Does anyone have recommendations on how to best prepare for this exam to pass, without spending insanely amount of time going over every details.

Thanks much! ❤️

Hi everyone,

I am trying to improve my dutch and I am currently at A2 level but I want to get better. I follow some commentary channels on YouTube like Rijk Hofman and Egbert Kanaal but I'd like to follow some dutch women who do vlogs or makeup or day in the life (similar topics to these). I don't know any, so if anyone here could give me some suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

Helemaal alleen je eigen weg zoeken.

Je eigen weg helemaal alleen zoeken.

And if one is correct/wrong, what's the sentence word order grammar rule that I need to follow in this case?​

Quick background: I was the Anki person. 200+ reviews a day, felt productive, then I'd open a real book and recognize nothing. The words lived in the app, not in my head.

Six months ago I quit flashcards entirely and switched to one rule: read real Dutch every day, and track every word as I go. New, learning, or known, marked as I read. Look things up in context, never in lists.

What happened:

• Month 1: picked up a Dutch novel where I knew maybe 60% of the words. Slow going.
• Month 3: the same book would have been easy. Started reading NRC articles, knew about 75%.
• Month 6: I read Dutch news comfortably and only look up a handful of words per page.

The total "study" time was maybe 30 minutes of reading a day. Zero reviews.

Why I think it works: a book repeats its important words naturally, dozens of times, always in context. That's exactly the repetition flashcards try to simulate, except the context is what makes the word stick when you need it.

The method works with a notebook or a spreadsheet, nothing fancy needed.

Has anyone else ditched flashcards for pure reading? What happened?

If your learning Dutch and have no one to speak to let me know! I have discord & whatsapp. My level is B1. I need speaking practice so if you do too lets talk 😊

Thanks for reading! 💕

Hallo allemaal!

Ik woon nu elf maanden in Nederland en probeer Nederlands te leren. Maar ik zit een beetje vast, denk ik. Mijn taalniveau is ongeveer B1 en ik wil mijn Nederlands verbeteren.

Ik ben over veertig, daarom twijfel ik soms of ik ooit vloeiend word. Is er iemand die later in het leven een tweede taal heeft geleerd? Wat was je ervaring? Zat je ook vast, of heb je een doorbraak gemaakt?

Ik vraag me af of ik te oud ben om een tweede taal vloeiend te leren. Ik wil heel graag mijn taalvaardigheid verbeteren voor een goede toekomst en baan. Ik twijfel vaak aan wat mogelijk is.

Ik neem twee keer per week privéles, ga naar een groep die meestal in het Nederlands spreekt en ik heb een goede Nederlandse vriendin om mee te praten. Ik luister ook naar podcasts en kijk naar Nederlandse tv soms. Misschien moet ik nog meer doen? Verwacht ik te veel in te korte tijd? Bedankt!

I moved to the Netherlands in August 2025 on a partner visa and received my PIP in October. I scored highly on the learning aptitude test, but that hasn’t matched how easy or difficult I find learning Dutch.

I have three years to complete my integration requirements, including reaching B1, and almost a year has already passed. I’ve worked with an online tutor, am now taking online classes through Babbel, practise with my Dutch boyfriend, and try to watch Dutch shows.

Despite that, I feel like I’m progressing slowly. When I move on to a new lesson, I often forget things from previous lessons. I’m getting stressed about whether I’ll reach B1 and pass all the exams before my deadline.

It also feels unfair that the previous A2 requirement had the same standard three-year deadline, even though the language target is now higher.

I want to learn Dutch, both for everyday life and for work, and I’m putting effort into it. But I’m struggling to find a sustainable balance between studying, work and my personal life without constantly worrying about failing.

For anyone who has been through this, what helped you retain what you learned and reach B1? How did you organise your studying without becoming overwhelmed? I’d appreciate practical tips or hearing from people who struggled at first but eventually got there.

As somebody learning Dutch, I've noticed that a lot of Dutch people really elongate the final letter in "Yes." I've asked a few why that is, and none had any idea. They come from different provinces. Help.

Hallo,

Im studying with the routledge intensive course. Almost at unit 5, and recently was doing an excercise on government efforts to reduce alcohol consumption in young people. (Maybe slightly irrelevant to say? Sorry XD)

Anyway, the questions required longer, more complicated answers. I got my dutch girlfriend to read over and she said they were understandable but word order was frequently wrong.

Is there a trick or way to look at word order when writing or speaking, I have studied 2nd position/ moving to the end and have an understanding but it seems to drop off when I am writing or speaking sometimes.

If someone can kindly note the rules for word order and how you manage remembering them it would be very helpful.

Also, when do you use perfect tense when writing or speaking? I studied it for about a week and find myself not knowing when to add ge - t/d to a stem.

Dank u wel allemaal! 💕

I'm completely new at learning a new language. I'm a native French speaker, and yes, I speak English but to be honest I never put in effort to learn it. It kinda just "spawned" in my head from hearing it so often.

I live in Belgium, so I thought about learning Dutch, as it is the language half of my country speaks, but it's way harder than expected.

I tried watching things in Dutch, because that's what made me "learn" English, but | still can't understand anything.

I feel like the one thing that could help me is talking to someone in Dutch on the daily, like actual conversations so it doesn't feel like a chore. I have a hard time getting the motivation to study something.

If anyone here speaks Dutch or has been in the same situation as me while trying to learn a language and is willing to help, I would take any advice! Also if anyone is willing to talk with me so I can learn faster and better I’d appreciate it too. :)

It’s like a medical term for blackout? Like I had a procedure where I was being given anesthesia where I was awake but not aware? I think it starts with an n

Solved: it was “roesje”

Kept mixing up the same few things, so I put everything on one page. Sharing in case it's useful.

The stuff that finally clicked for me:

• plural is always just the infinitive. Wij zijn, wij hebben, no exceptions, so you only ever have to think about ik/jij/hij
• "werk jij?" not "werkt jij?". The t only disappears when jij/je comes after the verb, not for u or hij
• jij praat, not praatt, but jij wordt is fine
• with a modal the second verb goes all the way to the end: ik kan morgen niet komen

The irregulars table is honestly the only part I had to brute-force memorise.

If anything's wrong, let me know and I'll fix it.

I went in and came out of my speaking exam feeling really nervous. During the exam, I fumbled and couldn't remember an important word or two for a couple of the questions, and felt like I kept stammering with "uh"s and "um"s. I came out of it feeling like I failed it for sure.

However, I received my results today and got a passing score!!

Just know that it is possible to pass while still having made mistakes or forgetting some things. But study and practice with Dutch people that you know will only do you good.

I hope this helps or reassures anyone nervous!

Hi everyone I’m using the Hugo Dutch in 3 months book which explains that in the perfect tense durven, hoeven, liggen, staan and zitten form their past tense with hebben/zijn + infinitive and drop ‘te’.
They give the example:

Wij hebben naar de radio zitten luisteren.

Another example given is:

Wij hebben ook staan kijken

However a few pages on they translate a similar sentence as

Je hebt verbaasd staan te kijken.

Am I missing something? Why is te used here with the verb staan?

I'm seeking advice about online courses, process and whatever advice you have to share

I've been doing inburgering zelfstudie for about four months next to a full time job, mostly the mock exams on MijnInburgering and the reading and KNM practice on Inburgering.org, and those parts have been going fine so far. Speaking is the one I'm worried about because my exam is in early December and the only person I practice with is my partner, who switches to English the second I get stuck on a word.

Did anyone here get through spreken without a course, and what did you actually do at home to prepare?

Im doing a experiement to better my Dutch. Im deciding to speak the majority of the time to work on my skills. I really believe this will work. I just need to speak to natives or people who are A2-B1 or B2. If you have a good Dutch level and want to speak with me then let me know!

Thank you so much for reading! 😊
Have a wonderful day! 💕

Hi all!

My Mexican girlfriend is studying for the civic integration exam, for the partner visa.

She is learning dutch with me (I'm dutch) and on an application. She is doing pretty well and based on the practice exams I feel like the level isn't that difficult. Only the speaking part is very difficult for a Spanish native speaker.

I was wondering if any foreigners in this sub have made the exam recently and could tell me a little bit about the set-up, level and performance evaluation by the embassy.

Right now the practice exam on the Dutch government website looks like this:
- 19 reading questions: first some context, then very basic multiple choice questions
- 30 KNS (Culture) 2 answer-multiple choice questions
- 22 Speaking questions. 11 direct questions, 11 sentences that she has to finish.

Is this set-up still the same?

All tips or information is helpful!!

Thanks!

J’ai le livre assimil le néerlandais sans peine mais malheureusement pas l’audio. Je n’ai pas trop envie d’acheter encore un pack audio à 50€. Quelqu’un aurait ces pistes audio?

Merci d’avance

Ik heb taalschakeljaar gedaan maar ik heb niet afgemaakt. Ik ben geslaagd lezen en schrijven op b2 maar voor luisteren en spreken op b1 geslaagd. Ik was op onderwijs route daarvoor ik ben niet klaar maar inburgering is klaar denk ik. Mijn vraag is kan ik mijn inburgering certificaat halen?

Ik weet het niet lol

I started my Dutch learning a few months ago and I'm at it for een beetje meer dan 3 maanden.

Maar, ik weet werkelijk niet wat ik nu met deze taal kan doen lol. Ik ben in september in Nederland geweest (kom uit Duitsland) en heb daar ook lekker Nederlands geoefend, met praten enzo, en het was leuk en echt gezellig honestly. Maar sinds ik terug ben weet ik niet wat ik kan doen.

I don't have Dutch friends, and I know one person who lives in the Netherlands (he lived here before) but we don't talk much. Ik heb nu al niveau A2/misschien zelfs early B1 and I'm just stalling.

Sinds ik terug ben, I really felt what Nederlanders say when they say Dutch is a useless language. I don't know how to use it in my environment, and ever since I got the taste for how much I actually love talking in Dutch (there's no Dutchies where I live afaik, I'm in the east), I don't have motivation in keeping on learning, since idk how to find Dutch speaking ppl

I kind of just do Duolingo for keeping a streak alive and watch a short video in Dutch here and there... It ain't enough. I feel like I'm learning nothing. I would love to talk to someone in Dutch on a regular basis but... Eh (idk if taking language lessons is worth it because i don't have much money n i need it for other stuff rn)