Archive for April, 2016
April (weather) does what it wants Posted by Karoly Molina on Apr 27, 2016
This month there has been a Dutch saying that I have heard almost on a daily basis: April doet wat het wil. It is very true that April does what it wants, at least this April. The weather in the Netherlands has been nothing short of gek with temperatures reaching the 20 degrees Celsius and then…
Odd Grammatical Terms – The Test! Posted by Sten on Apr 26, 2016
Two weeks ago, we discussed grammatical terms that are related to nouns, such as the onderwerp, lijdend voorwerp, meewerkend voorwerp, and others. Last week, we discussed terms that are related to verbs, such as the werkwoord, gezegde, naamwoordelijk deel van het gezegde, and others. This week, you will have the chance to see whether you got it right! The results of the…
Garde Robe: An Amazing Discovery From The Golden Age Posted by Sten on Apr 21, 2016
Last Thursday, a most verbazingwekkend (astonishing) discovery was published: a lading (cargo) of 17th century noble items, most importantly a vorstelijk gewaad (royal gown) were found! In the waters off the island Texel, many scheepswrakken (ship wrecks) from that time, the Gouden Eeuw (Golden Age – see below in the Sideline) were lying out there, waiting for cargo. Because of wind and weather, many of them zonken (sank) and…
Back to Basics: Comparing Posted by Karoly Molina on Apr 20, 2016
On a previous post, I wrote about the incorrect uses of als and how dan is the correct word to use when pointing out differences in a comparison. On this post, I would like to expand on comparisons and the correct words to use. dan The following song by Tim Immers is a good point to begin…
Odd Gramatical Terms in Dutch Grammar – Pt. 2: Verbs Posted by Sten on Apr 18, 2016
If you have studied any language, or even just English, you have come across terms for the types of words and word combinations in the language. You might have also come across the widespread Latin terms for cases: nominativus, accusativus, dativus, genitivus, or even an ablativus. This is to identify the role of nouns in a sentence. These were…
Back to Basics: Incorrect uses of “als” Posted by Karoly Molina on Apr 13, 2016
The word als is a very versatile Dutch word. You can use it as a conjunction (Als je klaar bent met studeren, kunnen wij ijs gaan eten) or a preposition (Ik zeg dit als een Nederlands leerling). This is perhaps one of the reasons why it is a word that can easily be used incorrectly. Here are just two…
Odd Gramatical Terms in Dutch Grammar – Pt. 1: Nouns Posted by Sten on Apr 11, 2016
If you have studied any language, or even just English, you have come across terms for the types of words and word combinations in the language. You might have also come across the widespread Latin terms for cases: nominativus, accusativus, dativus, genitivus, or even an ablativus. This is to identify the role of nouns in a sentence. These will…