Dutch/Lesson 2

Gesprek 2-1

 * 1) First push the button to simply listen to the following conversation.
 * 2) Then study the text to find out what the meaning is. If necessary, hover your mouse over a if you don't know it. Once you think you understand the conversation open the dropdown below to see the full translation.
 * 3) Finally listen to the conversation again and see how much you understand. First with eyes open to see the text. Then do it with eyes closed.
 * 4) If there are parts you do not understand when listening, go back to step 2.
 * 5) Finally use the vocabulary box on the right to memorize the vocabulary material

Grammatica 2-1 ~ Introduction to Verbs
A verb (in Dutch: werkwoord) is that part of speech that describes an action. Verbs come in an almost bewildering array of tenses, moods, voices and aspects, and there are several major types: intransitive, transitive, ditransitive, and ergative verbs.

Fortunately, the Dutch verb is not too different from the English one, although it does have a few more forms.

I am called Standish                     Ik heet Standish What are you called (named)? Hoe heet u? ...that she is named (called) 'Alice'    ...dat ze 'Alice' heet  We are both called Robert                Wij heten allebei Robert

The Dutch verb heten can best be translated as "to be named" or "to be called" and we see two forms of it here Actually there are usually three forms. This can be seen from:
 * 1) a singular one: heet used with ik,u,ze
 * 2) a plural one heten used for wij (as well the other plural persons).

In the case of heten the extra -t does not get added because the stem already ends in a -t.

In a later lesson we will revisit the verb forms associated with each person.

The irregular verb to be-zijn has a few more forms in both languages.

Gesprek 2-2 ~ De Engelsman
First push the arrow button to listen to the following conversation. Then inspect the translation and hover over each word you do not know to find out what it means. Once you understand the narrative run the audio again, following along, making sure you know what is being said. Use the pronunciation box on the right to further strengthen your comprehension both in listening and in reading.

Fill in the blank 2-2-F
Say the word you think that belongs in the blank and use the hover method to check your choice


 * Mevrouw Nieman wil Standish haar collega
 * Mr. Standish vraag of ze een beetje wil spreken.
 * Mr. Standish bezoekt de.
 * Mevrouw Nieman vraagt of Standish Nederlands kan

Vocabulary drill 2-1


Of course memorizing words and expressions is an important part of learning any language and there are various ways of doing that. Have a look at the vocabulary pages. They are designed to help you acquire more words in a playful manner.

Grammatica 2-2 ~ Inversion in questions and negations
You may have wondered about the order of the words in


 * ik geloof dat ze Alice heet.

Even though Dutch verbs are not so much more complicated than English ones, word order is. In fact it is quite a bit more complicated than in English. For the moment let's just leave the above sentence for what it is and start with questions.

Questions
A question sentence in Dutch simply reverses the order of subject and verb.

Recall:  U heet meneer Standish ('You are named Mr. Standish).

It became: Hoe heet u ? as a question

The normal word order of subject (u or "you") then verb (heten) is reversed and, in this case, an interrogative (hoe or "how") added.

Additional examples: English does the same thing when using the verb to be:


 * I am - are you?
 * ik ben - bent u?

Dutch does not use the auxiliary to do as English requires in most other cases:


 * ik weet -  weet u?
 * I know  -  do you know? (instead of "know you?")

Negations
The negative is formed by simply adding niet at the end:


 * Ik versta u      -  I understand you
 * Ik versta u niet -  I do not understand you

Again, Dutch does not use the auxiliary to do. (In fact using it sounds very foreign.)

Even a negative question does not use to do:


 * Verstaat u mij niet? - Don't you understand me?

Gesprek 2-3 ~ Het nieuwe meisje
In this conversation, the parties are close friends.

Fill in the blank 2-3-F
Use the hover method to check your answer.


 * Karel vraag aan Heleen wie dat nieuwe is.
 * Karel vindt Karolien erg
 * Heleen denkt dat Karel het lange zwarte leuk vindt.
 * Karel is op dat haar.

Gender
Where English uses the demonstrative pronoun that, Dutch uses either dat or die, recall:


 * dat nieuwe meisje. Die brunette. - that new girl, that brunette

Similarly, where English uses the article the, Dutch has two possibilities: de or het, recall:


 * de boekhouding, het meisje. - the administration, the girl

We will revisit this phenomenon (gender) in the next lesson more extensively. There is a bit of a problem with it in Dutch.

For the moment it is enough to realize that there are two kinds of words,
 * ones that take de and die
 * ones that take het and dat

For this reason it is advisable to always memorize a word together with its definite article, e.g. as "de boekhouding", not simply as "boekhouding".

Both articles and demonstrative pronouns are a special kind of adjectives: words that are added to make the meaning of another word more precise, like new, small or exciting

Inflection
Recall that some adjectives in the dialogue ended in -e (mooie meid), sometimes they did not (is erg mooi).

Adjectives can be used in two ways: in front of a noun and after a verb like is (a copula). In English the adjective remains the same regardless:


 * The house is red (copula + adjective)
 * The red car (adjective + noun)

Behind a copula (as predicate) this is true in Dutch as well:


 * Ik ben gek (I am crazy)
 * Ze is mooi (She is pretty)
 * De auto is rood (The car is red)

But in Dutch they are inflected if they occur in front of a noun (as attribute). Compare:
 * de rode auto - the red car
 * een rode auto - a red car
 * de rode auto's - the red cars
 * rode auto's - red cars

Neuter words are the ones that carry the definite article het and the demonstrative dat. They are a bit different (Again: we will revisit them in the next lesson.)


 * het rode huis
 * een rood huis - a red house
 * de rode huizen
 * rode huizen

As you see the adjective is not inflected after the indefinite article een.

This also holds if there is no article:


 * met groot gemak - with great ease (het gemak: neuter)

But:


 * in hoge nood - in desperate need (de nood)

Thus, apart from the indefinite neuter an attributive adjective is usually inflected with -e.

There are a few exceptions, compare e.g.:


 * de man - the man
 * een grote man - a big man
 * een groot man - a great man

Making nouns out of adjectives
Adjectives can be turned into nouns, by assuming their inflected form:


 * Dat is een grote
 * That is a big one
 * Dat is een kleine
 * That is a small one
 * Die lange heeft mijn fiets gestolen
 * That tall guy has stolen my bike

Notice that Dutch does not use 'one' in such cases.

There are a number of adjectives that can be turned into nouns by adding -te. They all carry de. In English the corresponding suffix is -th:


 * wijd – wijdte (wide - width)
 * lang – lengte (long, tall - length)
 * groot – grootte (big - size)
 * breed – breedte (broad - breadth)
 * eng – engte (narrow - narrowness)
 * zwaar – zwaarte (heavy - heaviness)
 * heet – hitte (hot - heat)
 * warm – warmte (warm - warmth)
 * zwak – zwakte (weak - weakness)
 * sterk – sterkte (strong - strength)
 * droog – droogte (dry - drought)
 * hoog – hoogte (high - height)
 * menig – menigte (many - crowd)
 * duur – duurte (expensive - dearth)
 * gewoon – gewoonte (usual - habit)

More about nouns in the next lesson.

Quizlet
The vocabulary can be practiced as Quizlet (30 terms)

Progress made
If you have studied the above lesson well you should have
 * 1) been introduced to verbs in the present tense
 * 2) been introduced to one element of word order: inversion
 * 3) become able to ask a question
 * 4) become able to make a sentence negative with niet
 * 5) been introduced to adjectives and their inflection
 * 6) gained vocabulary

Cumulative vocabulary count:
 * 1) Les 1: 116 terms, Les 1A: 89 terms. Example 1: 21 terms Total 226 terms.
 * 2) Les 2: 82 terms  Total 82 terms
 * 3) Grand total 308 terms

Pronunciation Guide >>


 * Practice Lesson 2
 * Cultural Lesson 2 >>