Questions about Dutch sentences

[brilliantyears]

Also: yes, what tarvos says

[tommus]

Ik sloeg vooruit op alles acht.

I watched ahead for everything.???
Something that a lookout on a ship would do.

Question: What does 'sloeg' itself mean? Is it the past of the verb 'slaan'? Do 'sloeg' and 'acht' go together'?

[brilliantyears]

Yes, 'sloeg' is past tense of the verb 'slaan'.

Acht slaan op is a fixed expression, meaning 'to pay attention to' or 'to watch out for'. The past tense would be '[sloeg] acht op'

What is the original sentence from? Somehow it feels a little... not unnatural, but old-fashioned? Especially the way 'vooruit' is placed, but I can imagine if it's in the context of ships and sailing it makes sense. It's grammatically correct though.

[trui]

brilliantyears beat me to the first part. I found "acht slaan op" in my new Dikke Van Dale. But when it came to how to translate vooruit, I got completely confused. I asked the Dutch chat that I help moderate, and none of the natives in the discussion had any idea how it could work in this sentence, even with the added context of the person being a lookout.

Can you provide some more context? We're all curious now!

[tommus]

What is the original sentence from? Somehow it feels a little... not unnatural, but old-fashioned? Especially the way 'vooruit' is placed, but I can imagine if it's in the context of ships and sailing it makes sense. It's grammatically correct though.

You have good intuition. It is a bit historic in that it comes from the true story of the shipwreck of the VOC ship Batavia off Australia on her maiden voyage.

Can you provide some more context? We're all curious now!

This sentence comes just minutes before the Batavia runs at full speed onto a reef. This book is the most interesting book I have ever read in Dutch, and I am only starting Chapter 4 of 10. It is an excellent insight into Dutch society, the culture of the VOC, the challenges of sailing, and life in general in 1628/1629. I find it to be a 'page-turner' with never a dull moment. I have both the audio book and the exactly-matching e-book. The story is a translation from the original English so it is fairly easy listening/reading. I am really looking forward to the nearly 15 hours and 381 pages. The reader has an excellent and nice-sounding voice. The audio and e-book versions are available here:

Audio

Ebook

[brilliantyears]

What is the original sentence from? Somehow it feels a little... not unnatural, but old-fashioned? Especially the way 'vooruit' is placed, but I can imagine if it's in the context of ships and sailing it makes sense. It's grammatically correct though.

You have good intuition. It is a bit historic in that it comes from the true story of the shipwreck of the VOC ship Batavia off Australia on her maiden voyage.

Hurray Reading 17th and 18th century ship documents (in their original handwriting) was part of an internship I did a few years ago

[tarvos]

In modern Dutch that grammar construction would be a shipwreck (sure, we'd understand, but if you speak like that...)

[Kat]

Reading 17th and 18th century ship documents (in their original handwriting) was part of an internship I did a few years ago

I'd love to do something like that.

This book is the most interesting book I have ever read in Dutch...

This is a bit off-topic but if you ever find yourself in the Netherlands, I would recommend a visit to the Bataviawerf in Lelystad. It's a big open air museum where they reconstructed the original Batavia. The ship is not just a mock-up, it really works. In 1999 they even sailed to Australia with it. Now they are busy with their next project, the reconstruction of a battleship called the De 7 Provinciën.

The current website makes the museum look a bit like Disneyland but it's actually not. They have very interesting guided tours that give you a lot of information about life on the ship and about the reconstruction process. And it's very easy to get there from Amsterdam. I bought a small booklet about the Batavia when I was there some years ago because I found it so fascinating (1 sample page attached).

[edited: typo]

[tommus]

if you ever find yourself in the Netherlands, I would recommend a visit to the Bataviawerf in Lelystad

My wife and I lived in the Netherlands for six years and we visited the Batavia and De Zeven Provinciën in Lelystad. Also the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam, the Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam, the Marinemuseum in Den Helder, and the Michiel de Ruyter "MuZEEum" in Vlissingen, all of which are very interesting. We also went on board the first Ark van Noach in Schagen before a bigger one was built which has been in the news a lot. So it was great to find the audio and e-book editions of the Batavia to continue my interest in Dutch maritime history.

[Kat]

OK, you win.

I've only been to the Bataviawerf in Lelystad and to the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam (which I liked less than the Batavia). Thank you for mentioning the other places, I'll use them as inspiration for future trips.