Dutch

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken primarily in the Netherlands and in parts of Belgium, with communities in the Caribbean and around the world through migration. It is part of the Dutch language continuum and shares close relations with German and English. Estimates place native speakers in the Netherlands and Belgium in the tens of millions, with additional speakers in Suriname and the Caribbean, bringing total speaker numbers to well over a modest estimate.

Standard Dutch, or General Dutch (Algemeen Nederlands), provides the main written and formal spoken form. Dutch has a wide range of regional dialects and two major standardized varieties: the Netherlands form and the Flemish form in Belgium. The language developed from Old Dutch in the medieval period, progressed through Middle Dutch and Early Modern Dutch, and achieved a relatively uniform written standard by the 17th century, aided by printing and education.

Dutch is closely related to Afrikaans, which derives from 17th‑century Dutch spoken by settlers in what is now South Africa and Namibia. Afrikaans and Dutch remain mutually intelligible to a degree, though Afrikaans has simplified grammar and vocabulary in several areas. The Dutch writing system uses the Latin alphabet and features digraphs and vowel-length distinctions; standard spelling is codified in national language references. The language is known for its relatively analytic grammar, gender distinctions in the noun system, and flexible word order in clauses.

Official status and usage vary by region. Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands and one of the official languages of Belgium (notably in Flanders and Brussels) and of Suriname; it is also used in Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. It is widely taught as a foreign language worldwide and functions as a lingua franca in business and media across Dutch-speaking communities.