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Archive for 'Dutch Grammar'

Dutch Fillers Part 1 – Why do We Use Stopwoorden? Posted by on Mar 10, 2021

So, you’ve tried to learn Dutch, right? Well, you know, there are words that make sentences unnecessarily long, right? Like, without them, you could, like, still say the same thing, you know, with fewer words. You can probably tell by now, I am talking about stopwoorden (“fill words”, fillers). We have them in Dutch, too! Here’s why…

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This Is How Dutch Letters Sound Posted by on Dec 9, 2019

The alfabet (alphabet) of a language is essential when you’re learning it. When you try to make yourself understood, but you mispronounce a word, it is helpful to be able to spell the word out – and knowing what the alphabet looks and sounds like is quite helpful! So here is a list of all…

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How Nouns In Dutch Are Falling Apart Posted by on Jul 15, 2019

Samenstellingen (compounded nouns) are a fun thing in the Dutch language. There are some fun challenges I remember from my childhood where we would make very long samenstellingen that you could basically make endless, even if nonsensical: hottentottententententoonstelling (Hottentot hut exposition) or fietsventieldopjesfabrikantenvereniging (bicycle valve cap factory association). But that is tame in comparison to some made up at this…

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Real Madrid vs. Ajax Amsterdam: 1-4 – how did they do it? Posted by on Mar 9, 2019

A voetbalwedstrijd (soccer match) unlike any wedstrijd ever before. It happened last Tuesday on March 5. Ajax, a strong club in the Netherlands, but not the most prestigious in international circles, beat the world-class team of Real Madrid. And not by a little bit: 1 to 4! Wat een Wedstrijd! In the Champions League, there is a thuiswedstrijd (home…

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‘s Woensdags – How does the Dutch genitive work? Posted by on Feb 25, 2019

How do you say “On Wednesdays, we go shopping in Amsterdam” in Dutch? The answer may not be as straightforward as you’d think. And that is what this post is about! Genitief ‘s Woensdags winkelen we in Amsterdam. What stands out in the sentence above? Perhaps the apostrophe and lowercase s at the BEGINNING of a sentence. Woensdags…

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Wil or wilt? Posted by on Dec 17, 2018

A rather small conundrum, but an important one if you want to understand Dutch properly: is it jij wil or jij wilt? Small difference, but is it significant? Let’s find out. The difference of one letter Willen (to want) is an important verb, often a hulpwerkwoord (auxiliary verb). The official conjugation is as follows: ik wil (I want) jij/u wilt (you (informal)/you (formal) want) hij/zij/het…

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Dutch Spelling 1: The Middle Ages Posted by on Aug 20, 2018

The way we write words changes all the time. But it is still important that spelling is laid down somewhere, so that you can always be sure what the correct way of writing is! In this series, we look at how Dutch spelling evolved and how it was codified. Today: Spelling tijdens de Middeleeuwen (spelling in…

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