Practise A1 speaking for the basic civic integration exam
How does the exam work?
In the Speaking part you show that you can understand and speak simple Dutch at level A1. You do it on a computer, with headphones and a microphone: you hear short tasks and speak your answer yourself. There is no conversation with an examiner. You get two kinds of task: questions you answer, and sentences you complete. The DUO practice exam has 22 tasks — 10 questions and 12 sentences to finish — and takes 30 minutes; the real exam has the same form. Unlike Reading, you do not see afterwards which answers were right.
How can you practise here?
What you learn on this website is reading and listening. Every word and every sentence is read aloud, so you always hear how it sounds and can repeat it. We cannot judge your pronunciation — so we do not pretend to.
For speaking itself you need a person. Below is how to go about it.
How to practise speaking
Find a buddy
Someone who speaks Dutch and with whom you can practise regularly: your partner, a family member or a good friend. Do not know anyone? On italki.com you can find people who speak Dutch and want to practise with you, often for little money.
Daring to speak matters more than being faultless
At level A1 mistakes are not a problem — they come with the territory. Anyone who waits until they can do it perfectly never starts. Just talk, even if your sentences are still clumsy.
Ask your buddy one thing only: can you understand me?
Used the wrong grammar, but the other person understood you anyway? Well done. Picked the wrong word, but your message got across? Also well done. That is what it is about.
Ten words a day
Look up ten words, learn them, and use them straight away with your buddy. Ten seems few, but it is 300 in a month and 900 in three months. With 900 words you can already hold a conversation about everyday things.
For your buddy: above all, say what is going well
Do not correct too much, and give the other person time to finish their sentence. Prompting is fine when someone cannot think of a word.
Start with the words and sentences
The vocabulary from the reading lessons is exactly what you need in order to answer. Lesson 1 is open without an account.
Start practising for freeThis website is an independent practice platform and not a website of the Dutch government. We do not run exams and do not mark them. The official rules and the registration are at Naar Nederland (DUO), IND and NederlandWereldwijd. Content checked on 1 September 2026.