Dutch Study Group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:33 am

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious :?:


Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:48 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious :?:


Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.


Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one :cry:
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Le Baron
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Le Baron » Sun Sep 04, 2022 1:03 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious :?:


Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.


Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one :cry:

Just a small stumble. Jeff is correct though, it's referring to jumpers in general. 'Die zijn = those/they are. Also it should be bloesje. And in the first sentence 'er' isn't necessary unless the context of the sentence refers to 'a specific place (there).' In general that 'er' will likely sound like 'd'r' (daar) in speech.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sun Sep 04, 2022 1:18 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious :?:


Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.


Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one.


I think you're getting bogged down in details - paralysis by analysis...

My translation:
Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
= What do you want to buy there?

Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
= Oh, a skirt and a ?? (typo? bloes = blouse, thus 'bloesje'?? bloesje = a small blouse/a little something/just a blouse)

Person A - Heb je ook een trui nodig?
= Do you need a jumper/sweater as well?

Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.
= No, they're too expensive now.


jeff_lindqvist wrote:Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.


Agreed.
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:02 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:
I think you're getting bogged down in details - paralysis by analysis...

My translation:
Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
= What do you want to buy there?

Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
= Oh, a skirt and a ?? (typo? bloes = blouse, thus 'bloesje'?? bloesje = a small blouse/a little something/just a blouse)

Person A - Heb je ook een trui nodig?
= Do you need a jumper/sweater as well?

Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.
= No, they're too expensive now.


So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

(Apologies for the typos :shock: , I'm very unused to typing Dutch compared to writing things out by hand. :? )

Le Baron wrote:And in the first sentence 'er' isn't necessary unless the context of the sentence refers to 'a specific place (there).' In general that 'er' will likely sound like 'd'r' (daar) in speech.


Ah, in this instance that's just me not copying the whole conversation out - the whole exercise refers to de kledingzaak in some lines I omitted :)

Thanks all for you help!
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Le Baron
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Le Baron » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:34 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

It's the same in English.
E.g:
- 'Are you going to buy a new car?'
- 'No, they're too expensive these days.'

Die zijn = they are.
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:41 pm

Le Baron wrote:
Ug_Caveman wrote:So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

It's the same in English.
E.g:
- 'Are you going to buy a new car?'
- 'No, they're too expensive these days.'

Die zijn = they are.


Thank you so much everyone :D - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.
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Le Baron
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Le Baron » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:49 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:Thank you so much everyone :D - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.

Do you mean 'het zijn'? This is most noticeable because of the 'het', showing it is treated as a collective noun:

Het zijn waardeloze dingen.
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Le Baron
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Le Baron » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:51 pm

Maybe you didn't mean that. I'm lazy at grammar and fail at the terminology.
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: Dutch Study Group

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:56 pm

Le Baron wrote:
Ug_Caveman wrote:Thank you so much everyone :D - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.

Do you mean 'het zijn'? This is most noticeable because of the 'het', showing it is treated as a collective noun:

Het zijn waardeloze dingen.


Ah, well it was actually trousers I was thinking of :lol:

Broek/en vs trousers serving as both singular and plural in English and requiring additional context to indicate singularity or plurality.

The fact the exercise was about clothes is probably what made my brain think of it - although it doesn't really matter in this instance, I'd just totally misunderstood the exercise and Jeff's initial response [which I now understand.]
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