Spreekt u nederlands? A little bit of dutch...

*Note: the spelling '-ij', so common in dutch, must be pronounced as [/ei].

*Note II: letters 'h', 'g' and 'j' sound almost the same, always [/x], no matter whether they are followed by a vowel or a consonant.

*Note III: words ending in '-je' are diminutive ones but, in some cases, their meaning may slightly vary ('brood' meaning 'bread' but 'broodje' meaning 'sandwich' -'little bread'-)

Antwerp has dutch as 1st language so it's always good to get to know some words and expressions which may be useful at some point.

Despite that, it's perfectly possible to handle your whole stay in Antwerp speaking just english, as many belgians know the language and are willing to speak it with foreigners.

Most of them also do speak french but, according to what I've experienced, it isn't likely they are going to help you if you try to communicate by this. 

According to german speakers, dutch is easy to understand in terms of sound/pronunciation, but not that easy to write.

So, here are there some useful dutch words and expressions:

'Hallo': hello or 'Dag': means 'day', but it's also used to say 'hello'

'Goedenmorgen' or 'Goeiemorgen': good morning

'Goedemiddag': good afternoon

'Goedenavond': good evening

'Goedenacht': good night

*In all of this examples, 'goede', meaning 'good', can always be replaced by 'goeie' (more informal)

'Ik': I

'Je', 'Jij' or 'u' (formal): You (just 2nd person singular)

'Hij': He

'Zij': She

'Het': it

'Wij': we

'Jullie': You (just 2nd person plural)

'Zij': They

'Wat': what?

'Waar': where?

'Wanner': when?

'Waarom': why?

'Omdat': because

'Hoe': how?

'Hoeveel': how much and how many

'Welke': which?

Sentences involving some of the referred above:

*Hoe gaat het met jij?: How are you? (meaning literally 'how goes it with you?')

Alles goed: everything OK

*Ik heet John Doe: My name is John Doe

*Ik begriep niet: I don' understand

*Spreekt je Engels/Frans/Spaans/Italiaans?: Do you speak english/french/spanish/italian?

*Welke taal spreekt je? Welke talen spreekt je?: Which language do you speak? Which languages do you speak?

*Dank je/u wel / Bedankt: Thank you very much

Some more words:

'ja': yes (it's the only case where 'j' is pronounced like [/j])

'ne': no

'Aangenaam': nice to meet you

'Smakelijk': enjoy your meal (if you go to the UA restaurant -ten Prinsenhove-, you'll be told it every time you pay)

'Taal': language

'Zijn': to be (Ik ben, jij/je/u bent, hij/zij/het is, wij zijn, jullie zijn, zij zijn)

'Hebben': to have (Ik heb, jij/je/u hebt, hij/zij/het heeft, wij hebben, jullie hebben, zij hebben)

'Betalen': to pay

'Werken': to work

'Studeren': to study

'Eten': to eat

'Drinken': to drink

'Roken': to smoke

'Keuken': to cook / kitchen

'Slapen': to sleep

'Kamer'/'Slaapkamer': room / bedroom

'Gaan naar': to go to (Ik ga naar Parijs: I go to Paris; but, when composed tenses, the second verb -the main one- is always placed at the end: Ik heb naar Parijs gaan)

'Minuten': minuts

'Uur' / 'Uren': hour/hours

'Dag': day

'Week': week / 'Weekend': weekend

'Maand': month

'Jaar'/'Jaren': year/years

'Winkel': shop

'Huis': house

'Straat': street (obvious, eh? ;)

'Lei': kind of 'avenue'

'Plaats': square

'Gebouw': building (if you're going to the UA, you'll see lots of sign saying 'Gebouw R', 'Gebouw K', etc)

'Kerk': church

'Gesloten': closed

'Open': open

'Vlees': meat

'Brood': bread

'Kaas': cheese

'Broodje': sandwich

'Kip': chicken

'Sla': salad / lettuce

'Frietjes': french fries

'koffie': coffee

'bier': beer

'pintje': pint (of beer)

'water': water

'het' and 'de': both meaning 'the', it depends on the genre of the word after. Masculine and feminine word go with 'de' and ungendered words go with 'het'. There's not a rule for a word being gendered or ungendered, so you'll have to learn them one by one... 

'en': and

'van': of

'voor': for

'bij': at somebody's places (like french 'chez')

'mijn': my

'ons' / 'onze': ours (depending if masculine or feminine)

'met': with

'zonder': without

'tot': until

'Volgende': next

'Halte': stop

'morgen': morning / tomorrow

'vandag': today

' 's avonds': every evening / in the evenings

'fiets' / 'fietsen': bicycle / bicycles (I think you'll always see 'fietsen' written in signals and everywhere else)

'vrouwen': women

'mensen': men

'mevrouw': Mrs. / Lady (to adress to a strange woman)

'meneer': Mr. / Sir (same, but for men)

'vader': father

'moeder': mother

'zus' / 'zusen': sister / sisters

'broer' / 'broers': brother / brothers

'vriend' / 'vrienden': friend/friends

'vriendin': girlfriend

'Koning': King

'Koningin': Queen

Colours

'Zwart': black

'Wit': white

'Blauw': blue

'Groen': green

'Rood': red

'Yellow': geel

'Orange': oranje 

'Pink': roze

Nummers

'een': one

'twee': two

'drie': three

'vier': four

'vijf': five

'zes': six

'zeven': seven

'acht': eight

'negen': nine

'tien': ten

'elf': eleven

'twaalf': twelve

'dertien': thirteen

'veertien': fourteen

'vijftien': fifteen

'zestien': sixteen

[...]

'twinting': twenty

'eenentwintig': twenty-one

'tweeentwintig': twenty-two

'drieentwintig': twenty-three

[...]

'dertig': thirty

'eenendertig': thirty-one

[...]

'veertig': forty

'eenenveertig': forty-one

[...]

'tachtig': eighty

'eenentachtig': eighty-one

[...]

'honderd': hundred

'honderd acht' / 'honderdenacht': one hundred and eight

'honderdzesenvijftig': one hundred fifty-six

'vierhonderd': four hundred

'duizend': thousand

'drieduizend (en) drie': three thousand and three

'vierduizend achtentachtig': four thousand and eighty-eight

Dagen van de week

'Maandag': monday

'Dinsdag': tuesday

'Woensdag': wednesday

'Donderdag': thursday

'Vrijdag': friday

'Zaterdag': saturday

'Zondag': sunday

As said, it's not mandatory you speak dutch in order to live in Antwerp but, leaving politeness aside, there are a few places where they'll only serve you if you speak in dutch. One of them is Jean Pierre's, just in front of the Agora building. They sell sandwiches and fizzy drinks (people usually go there for lunch, becayse it's cheap and good)... but he's an old kind belgian who only speaks dutch. Another place where it's worth speaking dutch is in De Laet Domine, a sandwich place in Koningin Astridplein, the square which spreads in front of the Centraal Station. They make really yummy chicken sandwiches but they NEVER speak anything else but dutch... anyway, as said, the 'kip met sla broodje' is amazing: you can choose the kind of bread you want, as well as the 'sla' or sauce that goes with the chicken. They also have another really tasty sandwich: bacon with broken eggs!