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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…
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…
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…
On Wednesday, The Dutch Have To Make A Big Decision Posted by Sten on Apr 4, 2016
On April 6, 2016, it is happening. The referendum over de wet tot goedkeuring van de Associatieovereenkomst tussen de Europese Unie en Oekraïne (referendum about the law on approval of the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine). The referendum is raadgevend (consultative), so the kabinet (government) is not obliged to follow the uitslag (result). It came after the GeenPeil (NoPoll) campaign, organized by news…
Another Weird Island In Dutch Waters – Forteiland Pampus Posted by Sten on Mar 26, 2016
Another weird island in Dutch waters! Previously, I talked about the weird “eye” in the IJsselmeer, the IJsseloog. Now, I have discovered that there is another such a weird island in the Netherlands! It is a weird oval, in the middle of the IJmeer, with a weird grey oval on top of it… Who made this island…
A Legend Has Left Us: Johan Cruijff Posted by Sten on Mar 24, 2016
Today, on March 24, 2016, one of the most famous and loved BN’ers (acronym for Bekende Nederlanders (well-known Dutch people) passed away. Johan Cruijff, also spelled as Cruyff in English, died fighting cancer at the age of 68 in Barcelona, Spain. It might be that you have never heard of him, but any Dutch person has…
Step By Step: How To Rule Dutch Weak Verbs! Posted by Sten on Mar 10, 2016
A zwak werkwoord (“weak verb” – a regular verb) is a verb that does not change in the past tense. For example leven, leefde, geleefd (to live, lived, lived). A sterk werkwoord (“strong verb” – an irregular verb) is one that does change, such as lopen, liep, gelopen (to walk, walked, walked). Then there are also “normal” onregelmatige werkwoorden (irregular verbs), like zijn, was, geweest (to be…