This involves telling a simple story or describing a sequence of actions that happened in the past.

Key Elements:

1. Past Tenses: You need to use past tenses to indicate the actions are finished.

• Perfect Tense (Voltooid Tegenwoordige Tijd - V.T.T.): Most commonly used for simple past narration in spoken Dutch. Formed with hebben or zijn + past participle.
• Ik heb gisteren gewerkt. (I worked yesterday.)
• Zij is naar de winkel gegaan. (She went to the shop.)
• Simple Past Tense (Onvoltooid Verleden Tijd - O.V.T.): Used more in written stories or for background descriptions in the past. Regular verbs add -te(n) or -de(n); irregular verbs have unique forms.
• Hij werkte in de tuin. (He was working / worked in the garden.)
• Wij gingen naar het strand. (We went to the beach.)
• At A2 level, using the Perfect Tense consistently for narration is often sufficient and expected.

1. Sequence Words (Signaalwoorden): These words help to order the events chronologically.

• eerst (first)
• dan (then)
• daarna (after that)
• toen (then, at that moment - often used with Simple Past, but can also link Perfect Tense clauses)
• vervolgens (subsequently, then)
• later (later)
• uiteindelijk / ten slotte (finally / lastly)
• nadat (after - introduces a subordinate clause, often requires tense consideration)
• voordat (before - introduces a subordinate clause)

1. Time Indicators: Specify when events happened.

• gisteren (yesterday)
• eergisteren (the day before yesterday)
• vorige week / vorige maand / vorig jaar (last week / month / year)
• vanmorgen / vanmiddag / vanavond (this morning / afternoon / evening - referring to the past part of the current day)
• om [tijd] (at [time])

Simple Sequence Structure: A basic narration often follows this pattern:

• Start with a time indicator or context.
• Use a sequence word (eerst, daarna, etc.).
• Describe the action using a past tense (usually Perfect Tense).
• Repeat with the next sequence word and action.
• Conclude with uiteindelijk or ten slotte.

Example: Gisteren had ik een drukke dag. Eerst ben ik naar mijn werk gegaan. Daarna heb ik boodschappen gedaan. Toen heb ik eten gekookt. Uiteindelijk heb ik 's avonds een film gekeken.

(Yesterday I had a busy day. First, I went to work. After that, I did groceries. Then I cooked food. Finally, I watched a film in the evening.)

Note: When dan, daarna, toen, vervolgens, uiteindelijk start a clause, they often cause inversion (verb comes before the subject): Daarna heb ik..., Toen kookte hij....

This skill involves combining past tense knowledge with sequencing words to create a coherent narrative.