Dutch/Lesson 6

Les 6 ~ Lesson 6

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The Spanish general is led before Prince Maurits at Nieuwpoort

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Gesprek 6

Jan: Zestienhonderd was de Slag bij Nieuwpoort, he mam?

Ma: Ja, jongen, heb je dat op school geleerd? En wat gebeurde er toen?

Jan: Prins Maurits versloeg de Spanjaarden, maar wat was er in zestienhonderdéén?

Ma: Eh nou, dat weet ik niet, hoor...

Jan: Het éénjarig bestaan van de Slag bij Nieuwpoort, natuurlijk.

Translation • Lesson 6 • gesprek 6

Jan: Zestienhonderd was de Slag bij Nieuwpoort, he mam?

The Battle of Nieuwpoort was in 1600, wasn't it mom?

Ma: Ja, jongen, heb je dat op school geleerd? En wat gebeurde er toen?

Yes, dear, did you learn that in school? And what happened then?

Jan: Prins Maurits versloeg de Spanjaarden, maar wat was er in zestienhonderdenéén?

Prince Maurice (of Orange) beat the Spanish, but what happened in 1601?

Ma: Eh nou, dat weet ik niet, hoor...

Well, eh, that I don't know...

Jan: Het éénjarig bestaan van de Slag bij Nieuwpoort, natuurlijk.

Well, the first anniversary of the Battle of Nieuwpoort, of course.

Grammatica 6.1 ~ Numbers

Use the sound buttons to help you with the pronunciation.

-teen = -tien

Dutch has a similar way of constructing the numbers for 13-19 as English, it is mainly the simple number (e.g. vijf, zes) followed by -tien, which means "ten" and is very similar to English -teen

13 dertien
14 veertien
15 vijftien
16 zestien
17 zeventien
18 achttien
19 negentien

-ty = -tig

As another example of the relationship between English y versus Dutch g, the English ending -ty in twenty, thirty etc., is "-tig" in Dutch:

20 twintig

Starting at twenty one things get a little funny, Dutch puts the single unit before the ten-unit:

21 eenentwintig (literally: one-and-twenty)
22 tweeëntwintig
23 drieëntwintig
24 vierentwintig
25 vijfentwintig
26 zesentwintig
27 zevenentwintig
28 achtentwintig
29 negenentwintig

Notice that one way to deal with two subsequent vowels in Dutch spelling is the diaeresis ë.

The same system goes for 30, 40, 50....

30 dertig
32 tweeëndertig
40 veertig
50 vijftig
60 zestig
70 zeventig
80 tachtig (!!)
90 negentig

The only irregular one is tachtig.
Notice that 60 and 70 are pronounced with initial [s].

Large numbers

100 honderd

Dutch does not use one as in "one hundred" or "one thousand"

101 honderdéén
111 honderdelf
112 honderdtwaalf
113 honderddertien
121 honderdéénentwintig
957 negenhonderdzevenenvijftig

In Dutch all numbers lower than one thousand are written as one word. There should be a space after '1000' (duizend), though. There's also a space before and after: miljoen, biljoen, miljard, biljard, etc.

1000 duizend
1001 duizend één
1017 duizend zeventien
1538 duizend vijfhonderdachtendertig or vijftienhonderdachtendertig
2000 tweeduizend
8000 achtduizend

100.000 honderdduizend

143.000 honderddrieënveertigduizend

143.500 honderddrieënveertigduizend vijfhonderd

1.000.000 één miljoen

2.000.000 twee miljoen

453.897.245 vierhonderddrieënvijftig miljoen achthonderdzevenennegentigduizend tweehonderdvijfenveertig

For higher power of one thousand Dutch follows the British rather than the American system

1.000.000.000 één miljard
(not: biljoen, see below)

1.000.000.000.000 één biljoen 1.000.000.000.000.000 één biljard

245.078.476.453.879 tweehonderdvijfenveertig biljoen achtenzeventig miljard vierhonderdzesenzeventig miljoen vierhonderddrieënvijftigduizend achthonderdnegenenzeventig

Notice also that the interpunction is the reverse:

English: $1,324,432.93 = Dutch: $1.324.432,93

Dutch has a decimal comma, not a decimal point.

YOUR TURN - UW BEURT!! • Lesson 6 • grote getallen

Translate into Dutch:

1. 23
2. 55
3. 88
4. 811
5. 1776
6. 1945
7. 2007

SOLUTION • Dutch/Lesson 6 • grote getallen

1. 23 - drieëntwintig
2. 55 - vijfenvijftig
3. 88 - achtentachtig
4. 811 - achthonderdenelf
5. 1776 - zeventienhonderdzesenzeventig - het jaar zeventienzesenzeventig
6. 1945 - negentienvijfenveertig
7. 2007 - tweeduizendenzeven - het jaar tweeduizend zeven

Grammatica 6.2 ~ Past and perfect tenses

Recall:

• ..heb je dat op school geleerd?...
• ..wat gebeurde er ...
• Maurits versloeg...

These are examples of past and perfect tenses. There are three kinds of verbs in Dutch when it comes to forming them.

1. Weak verbs add either -te(n) or -de(n) to the stem of the verb.
2. Strong verbs change the vowel of the stem.
3. Irregular verbs often have a combination of the two or show other idiosyncrasies.

The numbers:

1. The vast majority (thousands) of Dutch verbs are regular weak verbs.
2. There are some 150 strong roots. Derived verbs included there are some 1500 strong verbs in total.
3. There are only about six irregular roots and about two dozen derivatives.

However, the strong and irregular verbs are amongst the most frequently used ones. The more specialized and recently formed ones are typically weak.

Weak verbs

leren - to learn

ik leer - I learn → stem is leer

Past tense

The past tense typically has a singular and a plural form:

ik, jij, hij leerde - I, you, he learned

wij, jullie, zij leerden - we, you, they learned

Notice the similarity with English: the past is formed with a dental suffix: -de (Dutch) -ed (English).

However if the root ends in a voiceless consonant (t, k, f, s, ch, p and x) the endings are voiceless in Dutch -te, -ten:

passen - to pass

ik pas - I pass → stem is pas

ik paste - I passed

wij pasten - we passed

This happens in about a third of the weak verbs.

YOUR TURN - UW BEURT!! • Lesson 6 • Weak past

Put the following weak verbs in the past tense:

• reizen: ik reis - to travel
• passen: wij passen - to pass, to fit
• betalen: betaal je? - to pay
• maken: u maakt - to make
• doden: hij doodt - to kill
• leven: jullie leven - to live
• voeden: ik voed - to feed
• dansen: danst zij? - to dance
• stofzuigen: ik stofzuig - to vacuum
• verteren: het verteert - to digest, to disintegrate
• ontzeggen: ontzeggen wij? - to deny
• zakken: u zakt: to descend, to fail
• werken: werkt Jan? - to work
• vergaderen: vergaderen zij? - to gather, to be in a meeting

SOLUTION • Dutch/Lesson 6 • Weak past

• reizen: ik reis - ik reisde
• passen: wij passen - wij pasten
• betalen: betaal je? - betaalde je?
• maken: u maakt - u maakte
• doden: hij doodt - hij doodde
• leven: jullie leven - jullie leefden
• voeden: ik voed - ik voedde
• dansen: danst zij? - danste zij?
• stofzuigen: ik stofzuig - ik stofzuigde
• verteren: het verteert - het verteerde
• ontzeggen: ontzeggen wij? - ontzegden wij?
• zakken: u zakt: u zakte
• werken: werkt Jan? - werkte Jan
• vergaderen: vergaderen zij? - vergaderden zij?

Notice that the root of reizen is reiz-, resulting in a -de ending even though the stem is written (and pronounced) as reis. The -de ending is added to the stem (not the root). This idiosyncrasy of Dutch orthography gives many school children great headaches.

Perfect tense

The past participle on -d and -t

The perfect uses an auxiliary + the past participle. It is formed by prefixing ge- and suffixing -d in the case of leren:

the perfect

ik heb geleerd - I have learned

If the root ends in a voiceless consonant (t, k, f, s, ch, p and x) the ending is a voiceless -t:

passen - to pass, to fit

ik pas - I pass → stem is pas

ik heb gepast - I have passed

Dutch has "final obstruent devoicing", a fancy term for the fact that a consonant at the end of a word is always pronounced as voiceless. That means that both the -d of "geleerd" and the -t of "gepast" as actually pronounced the same, as [t].

However, as in English the participle can also be used as an adjective. As such it also has an inflected form with -e:

De geleerde les - the lesson learned

Gepaste eerbied - fitting reverence

In this case the /d/ of geleerde is actually also pronounced [d] and the /t/ of gepaste as [t].

If the root already ends in -d or -t the ending is omitted:

feesten - gefeest

baden - gebaad

Word order

In contrast to English the participle is put at the end of the sentence:

Ik heb dat op school geleerd.

Prefixes

If the verb already has a prefix like be- or ver-, the ge- prefix is omitted:

Wat bedoel je? - What do you mean?

Ik heb dat zo niet bedoeld. - I did not mean it that way.

Wat gebeurt er?

Wat gebeurde er?

Wat is er gebeurd?

Auxiliaries

The auxiliary is usually a form of hebben like it is to have in English (see below for its forms). However, unlike English there is a group of verbs (ergative verbs) that take zijn (to be) instead.

Notice that gebeuren (to happen) is one such case: It is an ergative verb. Instead of an action such verbs express either a process or a movement. Compare:

type	Dutch		English
process	zijn	de sneeuwballen zijn gesmolten	have	the snowballs have melted
movement	zijn	ze zijn gegaan	have	they have gone
action	hebben	ze hebben dat gedaan	have	they have done that

YOUR TURN - UW BEURT!! • Lesson 6 • Weak pefect

Put the following weak verbs in the perfect tense:

• reizen: ik reis - to travel
• passen: wij passen - to pass, to fit
• betalen: betaal je? - to pay
• maken: u maakt - to make
• doden: hij doodt - to kill
• leven: jullie leven - to live
• voeden: ik voed - to feed
• dansen: danst zij? - to dance
• stofzuigen: ik stofzuig - to vacuum
• verteren: het verteert - to digest, to disintegrate
• ontzeggen: ontzeggen wij? - to deny
• zakken: u zakt: to descend, to fail
• werken: werkt Jan? - to work
• vergaderen: vergaderen zij? - to gather, to be in a meeting

SOLUTION • Dutch/Lesson 6 • Weak pefect

• reizen: ik reis - ik heb/ben gereisd (with a destination: ben, otherwise: heb)
• passen: wij passen - wij hebben gepast
• betalen: betaal je? - heb je betaald?
• maken: u maakt - u heeft gemaakt
• doden: hij doodt - hij heeft gedood
• leven: jullie leven - jullie hebben geleefd
• voeden: ik voed - ik heb gevoed
• dansen: danst zij? - heeft zij gedanst?
• stofzuigen: ik stofzuig - ik heb gestofzuigd
• verteren: het verteert - het is verteerd (process)
• ontzeggen: ontzeggen wij? - hebben we ontzegd?
• zakken: u zakt: u bent gezakt (movement/process)
• werken: werkt Jan? - heeft Jan gewerkt?
• vergaderen: vergaderen zij? - hebben zij vergaderd?

Notice that the root of reizen is reiz-, resulting in a -d ending even though the stem is written (and pronounced) as reis. The -d ending is added to the stem (not the root). This idiosyncrasy of Dutch orthography gives many school children great headaches even more so because the final -d is pronounced devoiced as [t]. In "gereisde" however the [d] does return in the spoken language.

Strong verbs

lopen - to walk (cf. leap)

Ik loop - I walk

Ik liep - I walked (notice the vowel change)

Ik heb gelopen

The participle ends in -en in the case of strong verbs.

There are more than 150 strong roots and including all derived forms lopen, belopen, verlopen etc. there are more than 1500 strong verbs in Dutch. There are seven distinct patterns (classes) of vowel change. The most common one (Class I) has ..ij... - ..ee.. - ..e..:

schrijven - schreef - geschreven

blijven - bleef - gebleven

lijden - leed - geleden

English has far fewer strong verbs left and they have become irregular, i.e. the patterns are no longer very recognizable, although sometimes the resemblance is still striking, compare:

spreken - to speak

sprak - spoke

gesproken - spoken

We will come back to strong verbs later. Fortunately for all Dutch verbs except a handful it is enough to memorize de stamtijden (the primitive times):

lopen-liep-gelopen (infinitive - past tense - past participle)

Lopen is a verb of movement. This is why is uses to be as auxiliary if a direction of the movement process is specified. Compare:

Ik ben naar huis gelopen - I walked home

Ik heb altijd veel gelopen - I always did a lot of walking

In the latter case the verb takes "hebben" because the emphasis is not on the movement process but on the activity (action).

Notice that Dutch often uses the perfect tense where English uses a simple past. The past tense corresponds more to the past continuous in English, although the division of labor between the tenses is different in the two languages.

Ik liep naar huis - I was walking home

The past of some of the strong verbs has a plural that undergoes lengthening of the vowel:

breken-brak-gebroken

ik brak (as in father)

wij braken (as in Gaad)

(Thus the verb has four stages of vowel change. This is a very ancient aspect of the language. It stems straight out of Indo-European. Anglo-Saxon had something similar.)

Past continuous

Dutch does not have a past (or present) continuous as such, although there is a construction using aan het + infinitive that can be used to describe continuity rather emphatically:

Ik was naar huis aan het lopen, toen ik hem zag

I was (busy) walking home when I saw him

Verbs like lopen, staan, zitten, liggen (walk, stand, sit and lie) can also be used to express continuous action. They take te + infinitive:

Ik zat te denken - I was thinking (while sitting)

Ik stond te bellen - I was on the phone (while standing)

Irregular verbs

There are only a few verbs (actually 6) that demand more knowledge than that which is contained in the three stamtijden (primitive tenses)

They are: zijn, hebben, zullen, mogen, kunnen and willen

The auxiliary to have

The most important irregular verbs are hebben and zijn:

hebben-had-gehad

hebben - to have

ik heb - I have

jij hebt - you have

hij heeft - he has

wij, jullie, zij hebben - we, you, they have

Past tense

ik, jij, hij had - I, you, he had

wij, jullie, zij hadden - we, you, they had

Perfect

ik heb gehad

The auxiliary to be

zijn-was-geweest

zijn, wezen - to be

ik ben - I am

jij bent - you are

hij is - he is

wij, jullie, zij zijn - we, you, they are

Past tense

ik was

wij waren

Perfect

ik ben geweest - I have been

Notice that to be is seen as an ergative: it is not an action, but a 'process'.

Strong and weak verbs with irregularities

Some strong and weak verbs do not completely follow any of the regular patterns. We have seen one:

verslaan

ik versla

ik versloeg

ik heb verslagen

Notice that the present tense and the infinitive do not have a "g".

There is also a group of weak verbs ends in -cht rather than just -t:

brengen - bracht - gebracht

denken - dacht - gedacht

The vowel of these roots also changes, but historically these verbs are weak. Notice that English has something similar (brought, thought).

In these cases it is still enough to know the three primitive tenses to reconstruct the entire verb. As this is the case for all Dutch verbs bar six it is customary to represent a verb whether weak, strong or irregular by these primitive tenses and reserve the term irregular for the handful cases where this does not suffice.

Woordenschat 6

Dutch word	audio file	English translation
de school	school	school
het jaar	jaar	year
jarig zijn	jarig	having a birthday
de slag	slag	blow, battle
de natuur	natuur	nature
de jongen	jongen	boy
natuurlijk	natuurlijk	naturally, of course
schrijven-schreef-geschreven s	schrijven	to write
lezen-las-gelezen s	lezen	to read
leren-leerde-geleerd w	leren	to learn, to teach
bedoelen-bedoelde-bedoeld w	bedoelen	to mean, to aim at
lopen-liep-gelopen s	lopen	to walk
bestaan-bestond-bestaan s	bestaan	to exist
zijn-was-geweest irr	zijn	to be
hebben-had-gehad irr	hebben	to have
weten-wist-geweten irr	weten	to know
zien-zag-gezien s	zien	to see
zwemmen-zwom-gezwommen s	zwemmen	to swim
vinden-vond-gevonden s	vinden	to find
eten-at-gegeten s	eten	to eat
zitten-zat-gezeten s	zitten	to sit
denken-dacht-gedacht s	denken	to think
slapen-sliep-geslapen s	slapen	to sleep

Also see Dutch/The numbers for a synopsis and the hover test based on it.