Ma, krijg ik een ijsje?
Ach vooruit dan maar, je bent braaf geweest. Wil je een vanilleijsje?
Nee, ik wil een bananenframbozenmokkaijsje met vanilleslagroom.
Een kleintje?
Nee, ik wil een groot bananenframbozenmokkaijsje met vanilleslagroom!

Mam, do I get an ice cream?
Oh, all right, you've been good. You want a vanilla one?
No, I want banana raspberry moccha ice cream with vanilla whipped cream!
A small one?
No, a big one.

Grammatica 7.1 Compounds

In this chapter you will learn how to glue words together. Dutch, like German, Norwegian and Danish, is often mocked for the (theoretical) possibility of creating long words such as randjongerenhangplekkenbeleidsambtenarensalarisbesprekingsafspraken (the agreements for the negotiations concerning the salary of public officials who decide on the policy regarding areas where unemployed youth are allowed to hang out).

The compounding of words happens in English as well. In English, compounds are written as separate words, so English speakers are often not aware that words such as "apple juice" are compounds. Notice that when you pronounce "apple juice" you pronounce the word "juice" with much less emphasis than you pronounce "apple" with. This is what signals word compounding in English and Dutch alike.

Sometimes, compounds are spelled as a single word even in English. For example, the word "database" is a compilation of the words "data" and "base". For some words, such as "mailbox", a double spelling can be used: "mail box" is also acceptable in English.

In Dutch, the rule for spelling compounds is simple: if two nouns form a compound, write them together. Always.

Examples:

* apple juice -> appelsap, wrong: appel sap
* mail box -> postbus, wrong: post bus
* Linux operating system -> Linuxbesturingssysteem, wrong: Linux besturingssysteem

Should a word get unreadable by writing it together, you can use a dash to make it more readable. In the latter case Linux-besturingssysteem is more usual because Linux is a brand name. Dashes are used sparingly and never in simple compounds like deurbel (door bell)

This rule even applies to words imported from English into Dutch:

* sciencefiction
* businessunit

This dash is required when one of the elements in a compound is an acronym:

* DNA molecule -> DNA-molecuul, wrong: DNA molecuul

If you use two compound words in the same phrase that have an element in common, you can replace it by a dash:

* "ondergrens en bovengrens" (lower boundary and upper boundary) can be replaced by "onder- en bovengrens". (lower and uppper boundary)

Remember that you can do this in English as well: "standard temperature and standard pressure" is often replaced by "standard temperature and pressure". But note that by omitting the second occurrence of "standard", the text becomes ambiguous; it can no longer be seen from the text itself whether "standard" applies to just to the temperature, or to the pressure as well. The exact meaning will have to be gathered from the context.

In Dutch orthography however, by means of the dash, the difference is made clear:

* "Standaardtemperatuur en -druk" means standard temperature and standard pressure
* "Standaardtemperatuur en druk" means standard temperature, and pressure

Grammatica 7.2 Diminutives

Apart from a plural the Dutch noun generally also has a diminutive. It is formed by adding -je to the noun and is always neutral in gender:

de vaas - het vaasje

Het vaasje literally means the little vase, but the usage in Dutch is quite pervasive. A handsize vase will generally be called vaasje. The word 'vaas' is more reserved for something that needs to be carried with both hands.

Dimunitives have a plural in -s:

het vaasje - de vaasjes.

In some cases the diminutive has acquired a life of its own (become 'lexicalized'). Compare:

het ijs - the ice
het ijsje - the ice cream
de meid - the maid
het meisje - the girl

This implies that a big cone of ice cream becomes: een groot ijsje (lit: a big little ice). In the case of meisje, the original word meid can be rather derogatory:

Die meid hoort in het gevang!

approx.: That 'broad' belongs in jail!

It can also be a somewhat colloquial term of endearment:

Wat 'n leuke meid! -- What a cutie!
Grote meid! -- Atta-girl!

Lexicalized diminutives are even formed from other parts of speech than nouns.

tussendoor - in between
een tussendoortje - a snack

Adverbs can be formed by adding an extra -s:

zacht - soft
zachtjes - softly

Even the names of persons are at times turned into the diminutive, usually as a term of endearment:

Marietje, je bent een schat

Mary dear, you are a darling.

The formation of the diminutive sometimes requires the addition of -tje or pje, the latter after m:

het eten - the food
het etentje - taking someone out for dinner
de bloem - the flower
het bloempje - the little flower

In some cases the vowel changes like it does in the plural:

het pad - the path
de paden - the paths
het paadje - the little path, the trail

but:

de schildpad - the turtle
de schildpadden - the turtles
het schildpadje - the little turtle

In other cases an extra syllable is inserted:

de kom - the bowl
het kommetje

The suffix -je often causes consonants to be more or less pronounced as palatals. (Paadje as IPA /'pacə/ rather than /'patje/). There is considerable variation between the dialects in the formation of the diminutives. Many dialects pronounce -je as -ie /i:/. In others, the suffix tends to be -ke: meiske, blommeke.

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License Source: Wikibooks