ScriptLookup

Dutch

Nederlands
nl 24M speakers

Dutch (Nederlands) is a Indo-European language with approximately 24M speakers speakers. It is written using the Latin script. Its BCP 47 language code is nl.

Dutch (Nederlands) is a West Germanic language and the official language of the Netherlands, Belgium (alongside French and German), Suriname, and the Dutch Caribbean islands. It is spoken by approximately 24 million native speakers.

Dutch is closely related to both German and English. Dutch speakers were among the first to settle in what is now South Africa, where their language evolved into Afrikaans. Dutch contributed many words to English through trade and colonization, including 'cookie,' 'yacht,' 'boss,' and 'spooky.'

Writing Systems Used for Dutch

Latin
Primary
Hello World
LTR Latn

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does Dutch use?
Dutch is written using the Latin script (ISO 15924 code: Latn). Latin is written left-to-right.
What direction is Dutch written?
Dutch is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Dutch?
Dutch has approximately 24M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.
What language family does Dutch belong to?
Dutch belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Latin script.
What is the language code for Dutch?
The BCP 47 language code for Dutch is "nl". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
nl
ISO 639-3
nld
Status
living
Speakers
24M speakers
Language Family
Indo-European
Scripts
1
Primary Script
Latin

Other Latin Languages

Acehnese Acoli Adangme Afar Afrikaans Aghem Akan Akoose Alabama Albanian Aleut Anii Ao Naga Aragonese Araona Arapaho Arawak Aromanian Arpitan Asturian

Data sourced from Unicode CLDR and ISO 639-3. Last updated April 20, 2026.