Western Europe
Video Chat with People from the Netherlands
The Netherlands is small enough to cross by train in a few hours, yet people there have strong feelings about their own city, whether it's Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Groningen, Eindhoven or Maastricht. Dutch is the national language, Frisian is spoken in the northern province of Friesland, and English is very widely spoken, so switching languages is rarely a problem. If you'd like to try a few Dutch words, most people will happily play along.
The country runs on Central European Time, so 9 PM in Amsterdam is 3 PM in New York and 8 PM in London for most of the year. Cycling is part of daily life rather than just a sport, football is followed closely, and the electronic music scene is known worldwide, with Amsterdam Dance Event filling the city every October. Ask about stroopwafels, bitterballen, raw herring or poffertjes, about King's Day and its sea of orange, or about the best weeks to see the tulip fields in bloom. For starter phrases, visit our Dutch practice page.
The Netherlands at a glance
| Flag | 🇳🇱 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| Capital | Amsterdam |
| Region | Europe · Western Europe |
| Official language | Dutch |
| Currency | Euro (€, EUR) |
| Calling code | +31 |
| Time zone | Central European Time (Europe/Amsterdam) |
How to say hello
A few words of Dutch make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch | Hoi! | hoy | Hi! |
| Dutch | Hallo, hoe gaat het? | HAH-loh, hoo KHAHT ut | Hello, how are you? |
| Dutch | Goedenavond! | KHOO-duh-AH-vont | Good evening! |
Tips for chatting with people from the Netherlands
- If you want to practice Dutch, say so at the start; otherwise many people will switch to English as soon as they hear an accent.
- The throaty Dutch "g" is the hardest sound for most learners; ask someone to say "Scheveningen" and then try it yourself.
- Ask whether they live in the Randstad, the busy cluster of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, or elsewhere; the north, south and east each have their own accents and traditions.
- Dutch and Flemish are close relatives; if you've chatted with people from Belgium, you'll recognize a lot, though words and accents differ.
Only meet people from the Netherlands
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from the Netherlands, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Netherlands and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from the Netherlands, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from the Netherlands are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
The Netherlands borders 2 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: