Dutch Readers

Best Dutch grammar books (and when you do not need one)

Seven Dutch grammar books compared: which ones explain in English and which in Dutch, which have exercises with answers, and who each one is for. And when you can do without: at A1 and A2 you may not need a grammar book at all.

Published 17 October 2026

The short answer

  • Learning alone, in English, from the start: Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge). Short units, exercises, a full answer key. Then Intermediate Dutch, by the same author.
  • One book to look things up, in English: Dutch: An Essential Grammar (Routledge). A reference, not a course.
  • In a Dutch class, or from A2: Klare taal! (Boom). Written in Dutch, with the answers at the back.
  • Every rule and every exception: Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge), for B1 and up.
  • Not sure you need one: read the 12 rules a reader needs first. They are free, and for reading at A2 they are most of what you need.

Seven grammar books compared

Seven Dutch grammar books. Editions checked on the publishers’ pages on 17 October 2026.
BookExplains inLevelExercisesBest for
Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge, 2nd edition 2024)EnglishBeginners, first yearYes, with a full answer keyLearning the grammar step by step, alone or next to a class
Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge, 2nd edition 2025)EnglishAfter Basic Dutch, A2 to B1Yes, with a full answer keyThe B1 grammar: er, the passive, conditionals, long sentences
Dutch: An Essential Grammar (Routledge, 10th edition 2016)EnglishAll levelsA few sample exercises per chapterLooking up one rule quickly
Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge, 3rd edition 2017)EnglishB1 and upNoA complete reference with every exception
Dutch Grammar You Really Need to Know (Teach Yourself, 2013)EnglishBeginners to intermediateYesGrammar shown in real texts, for self-study
Klare taal! (Boom, 2020)DutchBeginners to advancedYes, answers at the backLearners in Dutch classes, and anyone from A2
Nederlandse grammatica voor anderstaligen (NCB, revised 1993)DutchB1 and upNoA reference written in Dutch

The first question is the language. A grammar in English is easier at the start, because you can read the explanation without help. A grammar in Dutch is slower at first and pays back later: every explanation is also reading practice, and its examples are the Dutch your class uses. If you go to an NT2 class, ask which grammar the school uses before you buy one.

The books one by one

English-language grammars

  • A1

    Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Jenneke A. Oosterhoff, Routledge)

    The workbook to start with. The second edition (2024) has 31 short units, from spelling and pronouns to word order in sub-clauses, the simple past and er, each with exercises, a word list and comparisons with English. The answers to everything are at the back, so it works without a teacher. Buy the second edition: the first had 25 units.

  • B1

    Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Jenneke A. Oosterhoff, Routledge)

    The sequel, in the same format: 24 units with exercises and a full answer key. It covers what a B1 reader meets in every text: er and pronominal adverbs, relative clauses, the passive, conditionals, indirect speech. The second edition (2025) adds notes on Flemish Dutch, which helps if you read Belgian news.

  • A2

    Dutch: An Essential Grammar (William Z. Shetter and Esther Ham, Routledge)

    The classic reference in English, now in its tenth edition (2016). It is arranged by topic, explains what is hard for English speakers, and has short "Let’s Try That" sections to test yourself. It is not a course: use it to look things up, next to a course book or a workbook.

  • B2

    Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar (Bruce Donaldson, Routledge)

    The big one: 456 pages with numbered paragraphs and a long index. More than a learner needs before B1, and the right book when the Essential Grammar stops answering your question. No exercises.

Grammars written in Dutch

  • A2

    Klare taal! (Jenny van der Toorn-Schutte, Boom)

    The NT2 grammar many Dutch classes use. 88 lessons with drawings, example sentences and many exercises, the answers at the back, and lists of irregular verbs, verbs with fixed prepositions and het-words. The lightly revised edition (2020) costs 58.25 euro at Boom with a one-year licence for the online exercises. The explanations are in Dutch, kept short; with a class you can start early, alone it works best from A2.

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Essential Dutch Grammar: which book is that?

Three different books go by that name, which makes searching for it confusing. Dutch: An Essential Grammar by Shetter and Ham (Routledge) is the reference described above, and the one most people mean. Essential Dutch Grammar by Henry R. Stern (Dover, 1984) is a small, cheap guide to the basics in 128 pages, still in print. And Teach Yourself used the title for the book by Quist and Strik in 2010, which now appears as Dutch Grammar You Really Need to Know.

When you do not need a grammar book

If you are in a class, your course book already explains the grammar of your level, in the order the class needs it. A second grammar book helps only when the class goes faster than you, or when you study alone between lessons.

If your goal is to read, you need to recognize a dozen patterns, most of them about where the verb goes, and you need to meet them in texts until you stop noticing them. The 12 rules a reader needs fit on one page, with examples from the free texts on this site. The hardest of them have their own pages: word order, sentences with two clauses and de or het.

For the rest, three free sources answer most questions:

  • woordenlijst.org, the official word list of the Dutch Language Union: de or het, the plural and the spelling of every word.
  • e-ANS, the online edition of the Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst, the complete reference grammar of Dutch. Free, in Dutch, and detailed enough for a teacher.
  • dutchgrammar.com, a free site that explains Dutch grammar in English, topic by topic.

How to use a grammar book

  • Do not read it from front to back. Look up the rule you just met in a text, read it, do the exercises for it, and go back to reading.
  • One topic a week is enough. Fifteen minutes of exercises, then find the rule in the next text you read. The text is where it sticks.
  • Check your answers the same day. That is what the answer key is for: a mistake you understand today does not come back.
  • Keep the lists at hand. The irregular verbs and the het-words are the pages you will open most; mark them.
What is the best Dutch grammar book for beginners?

Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge). It explains in English, keeps every unit short, and has a full answer key, so it works without a teacher. Take the second edition, from 2024.

Is there a good Dutch grammar book written in Dutch?

Klare taal! (Boom) is the one many NT2 classes use: 88 lessons, a lot of exercises and the answers at the back. The explanations are in simple Dutch, so it doubles as reading practice from about A2.

Basic Dutch or Dutch: An Essential Grammar?

Basic Dutch is a workbook: you go through it unit by unit and do the exercises. Dutch: An Essential Grammar is a reference: you look a rule up when you need it. Many learners use the workbook first and keep the reference for later.

Is there a free Dutch grammar?

Yes. The e-ANS, the complete reference grammar of Dutch, is free online, but written in Dutch. In English, dutchgrammar.com explains the grammar topic by topic. On this site, the 12 rules a reader needs are free, with examples from real texts.

Do I need a grammar book for the inburgering exam?

No. The inburgering exams test reading, listening, writing and speaking, not grammar on its own. Grammar helps most with writing and speaking; for the reading part, reading texts at your level helps more than grammar exercises.

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