Questions about Dutch sentences

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:33 pm

"Ik heb een half pond gehakt nodig."
I need half a pound of ground meat.

Source: Transparent Language - Dutch Word of the Day.

I appreciate getting the WotD. However, I think Transparent could easily do better. For example, occasionally the Word or the Day is not even used in the sample sentence. But more important, there is absolutely no explanation, even where a simple explanation would be very useful.

In this case, it is perhaps implied that this is the normal (or only) way to say this. But a learner wonders if other forms are equally valid, occasionally used, or never used (would sound awkward). So for this sentence, are the following OK or not OK?

1. "Ik heb een half pond gehakt vlees nodig."
2. "Ik heb een half pond gemalen vlees nodig."
3. "Ik heb een half pond gehakt rundvlees nodig."
4. "Ik heb een half pond gemalen rundvlees nodig."

5. Does "gehakt" imply and generally mean "gehakt rundvlees", and if you really wanted pork or chicken, you wouldn't say "gehakt" but something like "varkensgehakt" or "gemalen kip"?

For language learners, it is often just as important to not say what you would be tempted to say (based on your native language, or based on what you might expect) as it is to memorise a somewhat unusual expression (in this case, "hehakt" implying probably "gehakt rundvlees".)
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:07 pm

"Daar zijn verschillende redenen voor."
"Er zijn verschillende redenen voor."
There are various reasons [for it].

Are both "daar" and "er" correct? Is there any subtle difference? Do they depend on any context? Are they equally common?
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:16 pm

"Het bevriest."
"Het vriest."
It freezes. It is freezing.

Are both Dutch sentences correct? Do they mean exactly the same thing? If so, why the difference?
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:31 pm

tommus wrote:
1. "Ik heb een half pond gehakt vlees nodig."
2. "Ik heb een half pond gemalen vlees nodig."
3. "Ik heb een half pond gehakt rundvlees nodig."
4. "Ik heb een half pond gemalen rundvlees nodig."


Gehakt means "hacked", so it's not used together with vlees unless you literally hacked the meat. Grammatically okay though.

Gemalen is perfectly okay, but gemalen vlees sounds very imprecise.

Gemalen rundvlees is fine but you would use it to specify beef as opposed to the equally common half-om-half.

5. Does "gehakt" imply and generally mean "gehakt rundvlees", and if you really wanted pork or chicken, you wouldn't say "gehakt" but something like "varkensgehakt" or "gemalen kip"?


well it implies beef in general. Pork is an option, so is the vegetarian variant "vegetarisch gehakt", ground chicken is rare.

"Daar zijn verschillende redenen voor."
"Er zijn verschillende redenen voor."
There are various reasons [for it].


Er is neutral, we don't care where it happened - daar is referring to something specific. Usually this is far away from the speaker.
Last edited by tarvos on Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
1 x
I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:47 pm

"Het bevriest."
"Het vriest."
It freezes. It is freezing.


1. about an object freezing right now, or transitive - freezing a certain object
2. it is freezing outside (of weather)
1 x
I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:39 pm

"Het is beter voor je lichaam om iets warms te drinken in plaats van iets ijskouds."
It is better for your body to drink something warm rather than something ice cold.

Why is there an "s" on warm and ijskoud?
Could the sentence be written correctly without adding "s" to these two words?
Are there other Dutch words like these that can get this "s" where L2 speakers might not expect to see an "s"?
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Wed Apr 26, 2017 3:02 pm

There has to be an s here, and it's because all of these partitive constructions require an "s" to be added.

"Niets nieuws onder de zon" - Nothing new under the sun

"Ik geef je wat lekkers" - I'll give you some goodies.

"Heb je iets warms aangetrokken?" - Did you put on something warm?

Every time you see niets, iets, niks, wat with an adjective - remember, there has to be an s.

ALL adjectives take them.
2 x
I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Tue Jun 06, 2017 9:37 pm

"keer per seconde", "malen per seconde"

Keer and malen seem to be very interchangeable. Is there a preference for various situations?

Alternating current frequency:

50 (60) keer per seconde, 50 (60) malen per seconde

General:

10 keer per jaar, 10 malen per jaar

Other:

10 keer op rij, 10 malen op rij

10 keer 5 is 50, 10 malen 5 is 50

What is the difference between keer and keren, and between maal and malen?
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:07 am

"De twintiger van nu verdient minder dan een leeftijdgenoot voor de crisis van 2008 mee naar huis nam. De dertiger ook trouwens, maar die boerde toch minder hard achteruit."

The person in their twenties now earns less than a contemporary took home before the crisis of 2008. The person in their thirties also, by the way, but who farmed less hard on the other hand.

I'm quite sure "farmed" is incorrect but I can't figure out what else it could mean. Also, "on the other hand" might mean "in contrast" or literally "in reverse".

So I need some help. Any suggestions?

Source: Article in Trouw,nl (first paragraph)
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:17 pm

"We leven in een wereld van getallen en cijfers."
We live in a world of numbers and numbers.
We live in a world of numbers and figures.

In English, numbers and figures are very similar. Numbers are more common. Figures sometimes refer to groups of numbers. The statistic figures this month were good. Figures can also refer more generally to drawings, shapes, diagrams, etc.

What is the essential difference between getallen and cijfers in Dutch?
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000


Return to “Practical Questions and Advice”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: AvidLearner# and 2 guests