Basic greetings and introductions | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Goedemorgen allemaal.

   Good morning, everyone.

   Goedemorgen

   Good morning

   allemaal

   everyone

   More detail

   Goedemorgen is the standard Dutch greeting meaning “Good morning.” It is commonly written as one word in this greeting, even though it contains goed (“good”) and morgen (“morning”). Use it as a reusable greeting, for example: Goedemorgen, Anna. — “Good morning, Anna.” allemaal means “everyone” here. It addresses the whole group rather than one individual. It can also mean “all” in other contexts, but in this sentence it has the group-address meaning. Together, Goedemorgen allemaal. means “Good morning, everyone.” The greeting comes first, and allemaal specifies that the greeting is addressed to the whole group. Dutch normally uses a comma when directly addressing someone or a group: Goedemorgen, allemaal.

2. Hoe gaat het met je?

   How are you?

   Hoe

   how

   gaat

   goes; is going

   met je

   with you

   More detail

   Hoe asks about manner or condition here: “how.” It is the question word used to ask about someone’s state. For example, Hoe gaat het? means “How is it going?” gaat is the present-tense form of gaan (“to go”) for hij/zij/het and also for the formal u. In this expression, gaan is used idiomatically to ask how things are progressing or how someone feels, rather than describing physical movement. The form chain is gaan → gaat in the present tense. In the supplied follow-up, Het gaat goed met me. means “I am fine.” met je means “with you.” je is the unstressed, informal singular form of “you”; the stressed form is jou. The preposition met commonly corresponds to “with.” In this question, the phrase identifies the person whose condition is being asked about. The complete pattern is Hoe gaat het met je? Literally, it is close to “How is it going with you?”, and its natural meaning is “How are you?” Here het is the subject of the expression, while met je specifies the person concerned. This is a common, neutral way to ask one person informally about their well-being.

3. Het gaat goed met me.

   I am fine.

   Het gaat goed

   things are going well

   met me

   with me

   More detail

   Het gaat goed is a fixed Dutch way to say that things are going well, often used to say that someone is fine. The verb is gaan (“to go”); gaat is its present-tense form used with singular het. Here, het is a formal subject in the expression, not a specific object being identified. The useful pattern is Het gaat + adjective, for example: Het gaat slecht. — “Things are going badly.” met me identifies the person whose situation is being described: “with me.” Me is the unstressed form used after met; the more emphatic form is mij, as in met míj (“with me,” with contrastive emphasis). The pronoun me is the first-person singular form referring to the speaker. Example: Het gaat goed met haar. — “She is doing well.” Together, Het gaat goed met me literally describes things as going well with the speaker, and its natural meaning is “I am fine.” The same structure can be reused in the question Hoe gaat het met je? — “How are you?”

4. Leuk je te ontmoeten.

   Nice to meet you.

   Leuk

   nice

   je

   you

   te ontmoeten

   to meet

   More detail

   Leuk means “nice” or “pleasant” here. It is an adjective; the sentence uses it to evaluate the meeting. The same adjective can describe a thing or situation, for example: Dat is leuk. — “That is nice.” je is the unstressed second-person pronoun meaning “you” here. In this sentence it is the person being met, so it functions as the object of ontmoeten. Dutch je can refer to one person or more than one person; this short utterance does not specify which. te ontmoeten means “to meet.” Ontmoeten is the infinitive “meet,” and te marks this infinitive in the construction. A reusable pattern is te + infinitive, as in blij je te zien — “glad to see you.” Together, leuk evaluates the infinitival action je te ontmoeten: “nice to meet you.” This is a concise, friendly greeting; the subject and linking verb are understood rather than stated explicitly.

5. Fijne dag.

   Have a nice day.

   Fijne

   nice; pleasant

   dag

   day

   More detail

   Fijne means “nice” or “pleasant” here and describes dag. Its base form is fijn; the observed fijne has the attributive adjective ending -e. In Dutch, an adjective before a common-gender noun such as dag takes this ending: een fijne dag (“a nice day”). With a singular neuter noun after an indefinite article, the adjective commonly has no -e, as in een fijn moment (“a nice moment”). dag means “day”. Its plural is dagen. The phrase een fijne dag is a reusable noun phrase for wishing someone a pleasant day. Together, Fijne dag. is the conventional shortened form of a wish such as Ik wens je een fijne dag (“I wish you a nice day”). In this fixed utterance, it functions naturally as “Have a nice day.”

6. Graag gedaan.

   You are welcome.

   Graag gedaan

   You're welcome.

   More detail

   Graag gedaan is a fixed Dutch courtesy expression meaning “You’re welcome.” Learn it as a reusable whole rather than translating each word mechanically. graag commonly means “gladly” or “with pleasure.” It can also appear with an action, as in Ik help graag. — “I’m happy to help.” gedaan is the past participle of doen (“to do”). In this expression, however, the combination is conventional: it does not mean that the speaker is literally saying “done” as a separate message. Together, Graag gedaan is the standard concise response to thanks: “You’re welcome.”