Dutch Language Blog

Is learning Dutch on your New Year's resolution list?

It is almost the start of a new year and for many people, learning a foreign language (or improving the one they are working on) will feature somewhere on the New Year’s resolution list.

If that foreign language is Dutch, here are ten mini-tips about the language to get you started.

1. Dutch nouns have a gender. They are either common or neuter. The article de goes with common nouns and het goes with neuter nouns. It is important that the article “the” (de or het) agrees with the noun that it is going with.

Example: de kip – het huis

2. The word for a/an is een.

3. The word een actually has two meanings – a/an or one. The pronunciation makes all the difference, which is why you will usually find the number version written this way: één

Example: een huis – één, twee, drie

4. Diminutives are often used in Dutch, expressing smallness, endearment or even contempt. To form a diminutive, you usually add –je or –tje to the end of the noun but –etje, -pje, and –kje can also be found.

Example: het meisje – het boompje

5. Diminutives are always neuter nouns.

6. There are three ways to form the plural of nouns:

• adding en
• Example: bloem/bloemen
• adding s
• Example: tafel/tafels
• adding eren
• Example: ei/eieren

7. When making words plural, there are often some spelling changes that occur.

Example: maan/manen – bel/bellen – huis/huizen

8. Demonstratives (this/that/these/those) depend on the gender of the noun.

9. Adjectives are placed before the noun.

Example: de kleine tuin – het kleine huis – een klein huis

10. You should learn this list of pronouns, these question words and the verb to be, as well as the verb to have.

We have already talked about the present tense in Dutch, so let’s move on to the past tense. Today we will investigate weak verbs.

In the past tense, we deal with verbs differently based on if they are a weak verb or a strong verb.

• weak verbs have letters added to make the change
• strong verb have an internal vowel change to make the change

Weak Verbs

To make a weak verb indicate the past tense, you add a –t or –d to the stem of the infinitive and then –e for singular and –en for plural. How do you know when to add a –t versus a –d? That’s a good question and there are several ways to remember which words get which.

Basically, crude verb stems that end in -t, -k, -p, -f, -s or –ch add –t (and then either –e or –en). All the other weak verbs add –d (and then either –e or –en). There are several different “words” to help you remember those consonants, like ‘t kofschip (an old ship model), ‘t fokschaap (the breeding sheep), pocket fish or even sexy ketchup (not counting the x and the y).

It sounds much more complicated than it actually is, so let’s break it down with a few examples.

kauwen (to chew) –> the crude stem is kauw (final stem is kauw) –> w is not in ‘t kofschip so we add –d (kauwd) and then –e for singular (ik kauwde) or –en for plural (zij kauwden)

maken (to make) –> the crude stem is mak (final stem is maak) –> k is in ‘t kofschip so we add –t (maakt) and then –e for singular (ik maakte) or –en for plural (zij maakten)

reizen (to travel) –> the crude stem is reiz (final stem is reis) –> z is not in ‘t kofschip so we add –d (reisd) and then –e for singular (ik reisde) or –en for plural (zij reisden)

N.B. Even though we use the crude stem for knowing whether to add –t or –d, you add the –t or –d to the final stem version. Also, don’t forget the other spelling rules when making all your changes.

N.B. 2 If adding –t or –d results in a double –t or –d (e.g. bloedde) the double letter is kept but the pronunciation is unchanged.

Want to practise? How would you create the past tense with the following verbs:

• hopen (to hope)
• eisen (to demand)
• spelen (to play)
• horen (to hear)
• leven (to live)

Photo Credit: China_Crisis

On July 28th the Skûtsjesilen Championships will take place. Have you never heard of the word Skûtsjesilen? I hadn’t. So here is what I found out via the Holland.com website:

“Skûtsjes are typical Frisian ships that were originally used as cargo ships by Frisian farmers. Skûtsjes have a long and flat structure with which they could reach Frisian farms through shallow water. Sometimes farmers used them in sailing matches to earn some money. Due to new rules decreed by the water sport associations and the arrival of motorboats, interest in the skûtsjes declined. It wasn’t until after World War II that some skûtsjes fans started promoting skûtsjesilen again and turned it into the sailing event that it is today.” 

Each year sailing championships are organized so that skippers of these historical ships can fight for the honour of becoming the skûtsjesilen champion. The event is the perfect opportunity for you to combine water sports, practising your Dutch (or Frisian/Fries/Frysk) and enjoying the Frisian heritage.

If you would like to learn a little more about the Frisian language, the following video has some interesting information:

A few Frisian words to help you out:

**alternatives exist

Other events also happening in the Netherlands (and there starting dates) during July:

• Over het Ij Festival (July 5th)
• North Sea Jazz Festival (July 6th)
• Sensation Amsterdam (July 7th)
• Four Days Marches (July 17th)
• Black Motorcross (July 20th)
• Summer Carnival (July 27th)