Questions about Dutch sentences

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tommus
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:04 pm

Het ergste ongeluk in 10 jaar
Het ernstigste ongeluk in 10 jaar

The worst accident in 10 years
The most severe accident in 10 years

Very similar words for essentially the same meaning. Are ergste and ernstigste more or less interchangeable in this context?

het ernstigste ongeluk was het ergste ongeluk
het ernstigste ongeval was het ergste ongeval

Are there subtle differences between ongeluk and ongeval?
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:20 pm

I think you just answered your own question. Ongeval and ernstig are stylistically a little more formal.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:19 pm

... dat het wel snor zit met het welzijn van eenden en ganzen.
... that everything is fine with the welfare of ducks and geese.

Source: Telegraaf article

"wel snor zitten" is a strange Dutch expression whose origin seems to be elusive:

Reference: Onzetaal.nl article

It seems that this expression is quite common. If I were to use it in normal conversation, would that be OK? I guess the answer might be: "Dat zit wel snor".
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Mon Dec 18, 2017 3:00 pm

I don't feel like that that is such a problematic expression? Did you google the sentence you gave?
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Mon Dec 18, 2017 4:52 pm

tarvos wrote:I don't feel like that that is such a problematic expression? Did you google the sentence you gave?

I know what it means. It is not problematic once you know what it means, but definitely problematic if you try to figure it out literally. I am more interested in it because it is a bit different. I was also interested in how common it was in normal conversation.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Mon Dec 18, 2017 4:55 pm

This one is common enough
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Tue Jan 02, 2018 12:15 pm

Kwarktaart framboos en aardbei zijn hier absolute favoriet!
Raspberry and strawberry cheesecake are absolute favorites here!

Both the Dutch and the English are from today's Dutch Word of the Day.

What I find unusual is that framboos en aardbei follow kwarktaart. I wonder why? I suspect it may be because the Dutch don't like using commas, so maybe it could be written as: Kwarktaart, framboos en aardbei, zijn hier absolute favoriet!
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:10 pm

Nope. It refers to the flavours.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tommus » Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:04 pm

tarvos wrote:Nope. It refers to the flavours.

Yes. It refers to the flavours. But why do the adjectives (the flavours) come after the noun? Dutch adjectives precede the noun. French adjectives follow the noun.
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Re: Questions about Dutch sentences

Postby tarvos » Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:38 pm

We sometimes do it with flavours. Don't ask why, we just do. Someone is probably a little sloppy
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