Van Dale NT2 pocket dictionary at EUR 23.99: the only one allowed in the state exam Writing and Reading papers, and 2,000 basic words at 20 a day take 100 days

The children are asleep and you are at the kitchen table with a practice Writing paper for the Staatsexamen NT2: 100 minutes, a short message to your landlord and a paragraph proposing a solution to a problem. No phone, no Google Translate, and when one word stops you, the only thing you can open is a paper dictionary. The exam accepts exactly one.

Van Dale is the Dutch dictionary publisher best known for the heavyweight Dikke Van Dale, written for native speakers. This NT2 pocket edition works the other way round: it is monolingual, but every definition is written in simple Dutch that does not send you to harder words. It holds more than 15,000 core headwords and 2,300 common expressions, 57,500 meanings and examples in all, 650 illustrations, colour marking on the 2,000 most basic words, and pronunciation for over 800 tricky words. The September 2024 edition adds newer words such as appgroep and tikkie. The CvTE, which runs the state exam, states that this Van Dale NT2 pocket dictionary is the only one allowed in the Writing and Reading papers.

After the exam it keeps earning its shelf space. When your child's school sends a parents' letter entirely in Dutch, or the municipality posts you a form, looking up one word and reading its plain-Dutch explanation sticks better than a bilingual gloss. Its limits are just as real: it is 4.5 cm thick and weighs 810 g, so it will not fit a coat pocket, and it gives no English or Chinese translations, so complete beginners will want a bilingual dictionary alongside it.

• Work out how long the basic words take: days = 2,000 divided by the words you can learn per day. Twenty a day is 100 days, forty a day is 50; the colour marking on those 2,000 words turns the book into a ready-made word list.
• Three exam rules to remember: bring your own copy and do not borrow another candidate's; nothing may be tucked or written inside it; and no dictionary is allowed in the Speaking paper, nor any electronic aid. The Van Dale online version is handy day to day but useless on exam day.
• Where to buy makes little difference: on the day of checking both Amazon.nl and bol charge EUR 23.99. Amazon ships it itself with free delivery and 30-day returns. One buyer reported receiving a copy with signs of use, so flick through it on arrival and clear out any notes before it becomes your exam copy.

Price

EUR 23.99・free delivery

Rating

4.4 from 62 ratings on Amazon.nl

Specs

September 2024 edition・864 pages・810 g・12.6 x 19.4 cm

Platform

Amazon.nl, sold and shipped by Amazon, 30-day returns

Checked

Amazon.nl product page, CvTE state exam site, bol and Van Dale sites read on the same day

Hokimi tip: time your practice Writing papers with this dictionary and allow yourself no more than a minute per lookup, because in a 100-minute exam the time spent searching counts too. Price, rating and exam rules checked on Amazon.nl, the CvTE state exam site, bol and Van Dale on 30 September 2026. This article uses an affiliate link; your price stays the same. Sources: source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4.