Dutch Language Blog

Gevonden

Today I went out with the intention of taking a photo for a different post but what I wanted wasn’t there, so that will just have to wait until another time! However, when I was returning, I noticed that one of the neighbours had taped something to his garage door.

When I got a little closer, I noticed that it was an electrical cable and not only had he taped it to the garage door (with quite a generous helping of tape I must say!), he had also written a very crucial word underneath ‘gevonden’. This was to ensure all passer-bys that he wasn’t planning to collect electrical cables and decorate his garage door with them but instead that he had found this cable and if it was yours he was quite happy for you to remove it and be reunited. This is something that I notice happens quite a lot in the Netherlands. On a regular basis you will find a lone glove, a child’s toy or some other lost item placed on a nearby wall to await its owner’s return. I think it is quite sweet and always wonder how many items are actually collected.

So, let’s spend a little time today looking at the verb ‘vinden’, meaning ‘to find’ and some of the ways you might add it to your vocabulary if you aren’t already using it. I have added the literal translations in brackets so you can see a little better how the word order in Dutch is formed. I figure you can work out how to translate each one into a nicer sounding English sentence. Here we go:

1. You could use ‘vinden’ in the present tense to tell us all about something you find tasty. Since you are going to talk about yourself, you can drop the -en ending, making your sentence look like this:

Ik vind komkommer lekker. [I find cucumber tasty.]

2. Of course there is no need to find everything tasty, so you can also let us know what you don’t like the taste of:

Ik vind champignons niet lekker. [I find mushrooms not tasty.]

3. If you are desperate to find out if your friend, neighbour or a random stranger on the street likes a certain something, then you can ask them, like this:

Vind je wortels lekker? [Find you carrots tasty?]

4. Now, let’s assume you were polite and tried a rather odd looking food item that your host presented you with and you didn’t like it. Since you have already tried it, we move to the past tense:

Ik vond de taart niet lekker. [I found the cake not tasty.]

5. Lastly, let’s think about my friendly neighbour and his electrical cable. He was a bit lazy and just wrote one word of the sentence but since we are overachievers here, we will go for the full sentence:

Ik heb een kabel gevonden. [I have a cable found.] Or even more exciting – Ik heb een lotto kaartje gevonden. [I have a lottery card found.]

Now it’s your turn! I’ve seen how you guy’s tackle the word of the day so feel free to go wild, filling the comments section with all the things you find tasty, not tasty and/or something that you found today.

Heather Tucker

Goede Morgen/Middag/Avond/Nacht (depending on where you are reading this from!),

Hello! My name is Heather Tucker and I would like to introduce myself as a new blogger for the Transparent Language – Dutch blog. As of today, I will be joining the team to bring you news and information from the Netherlands and about the Dutch language.

So, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in the United States, where I lived until I was sixteen. I was then lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a Rotary Youth Ambassador taking me to Tallinn, Estonia for one year. During that time I lived with four Estonian families and learned about the country, its language and its culture. I also got to travel quite a bit in Europe. It was this experience that helped identify for me my love of Europe. After returning to the States for about one year, I moved to London, England where I lived for nine and a half years (even obtaining British citizenship). While in England I worked in primary schools supporting children with special needs and/or behavioural difficulties, until 2003 when I went to work for Victim Support Lewisham as the Children and Young Persons Officer, setting up a service for children and young people who had been victims of crime.

In 2007 I made another move, this time to Rotterdam, the Netherlands where I currently live with my two cats, Anya and Amelia, and my Dutch boyfriend. When I was in the process of preparing for my move to the Netherlands, I began a blog, Cloggie Central, which is all about life in the Netherlands as a foreigner. It includes news, reviews and adventures, as well as some humour thrown in for good measure. Cloggie Central allowed me to identify another passion, writing, and the almost inevitable step of combining writing and travelling was next to occur, allowing me to write for various expatriate publications. When I am not travelling or writing, I enjoy listening to music, reading, taking photos and starting new projects.

My time in the Netherlands has been very interesting, as has been my experience in learning Dutch. I am by no means 100% fluent but I can navigate most everyday situations and even have conversations with people above the four year old age range. I love to explore the Netherlands and learn as much as I can about the culture and places it has to visit. I look forward to sharing these experiences with you and also hearing what you would like to know more about. So don’t feel shy to let me know!

Until the next post…

Heather

I don’t know what the rest of the world looks like, but here in Maastricht there can be no doubt that it is winter.  The snow has been falling faster – quite literally – than they can plow it up, and Dutch rail travelers and road commuters have been experiencing some unnatural delays.  Fortunately, at home, we now have an excuse to eat one of the classic dishes of the Dutch keuken – boerenkool met worst – made with kale, potatoes and smoked sausage.  I had my dad explain the steps – in Dutch – while he was making it the other night.  Below, boerenkool met worst, in five parts.  Winter, hit us with your best shot.

To make boerenkool met worst, you need about a kilo of potatoes and about a kilo of kale– which is sold in Dutch supermarkets pre-washed and –chopped.  Peel the potatoes and cook them until you can easily pierce them with a fork – about twenty or twenty-five minutes.  At the same time, cook the boerenkool, with the worst in the same pot, until the small puncture holes you’ve made in the worst burst open.  Drain the potatoes and the kale, and mash them together.  Serve with the worst on the side, and add butter, salt and pepper to taste.

This concept of mashing things together is a running theme in Dutch cooking.  Any two vegetables can be mashed together to create stampot – literally, mashed pot.  Here in Holland, DJs aren’t the only ones mashing it up.  (“That was a little joke – voila” – Kanye West).  Until next week, enjoy your hot chocolate, winter sports, and boerenkool.