Knowing the parts of speech (how words function in a sentence) is important for anyone attempting to learn a second language. English speakers will find many strong parallels between their language and Dutch. Where possible we will try to point out the similarities and exploit them.
However, as noted in the introduction, Dutch grammar is more complex than English grammar, and identifying the meaning of words in a Dutch sentence is difficult without understanding the clues to word function that come from the grammatical rules. The basic lessons of this textbook are set up to first introduce the parts of speech, and then bring in the rules that govern these. Pay particular attention to sentence word order as you progress through the lessons.
Gesprek 1-1 ~ Vrienden
Jan komt Karel op straat tegen. Ze zijn vrienden.
* Jan: Hoi, Karel. Hoe gaat het met je?
* Karel: Hoi! Dank je, met mij gaat het goed. En met jou?
* Jan: Dank je, met mij gaat het ook goed. Tot ziens.
* Karel: Tot ziens, Jan!
John runs into Charles in the street. They are friends.
John: Hello Charles. How are you?
Charles: Hi, Thank you, I'm fine. And you?
John: Thank you, I'm doing fine as well. Goodbye.
Charles: Goodbye John!
Grammatica 1-2 ~ Forms
Notice the difference between Hoe gaat het met je? and En met jou?. Both translate literally into with you, but there is a difference in emphasis. Jou carries emphasis, je does not. In Dutch, there are often two forms of the same pronoun: a strong one and a weak ('clitic') one.
The above conversation was between two good friends. It utilizes the familiar form of the personal pronoun (je, jou) where English uses you. However, Dutch also has a polite or formal form of the personal pronoun for the second person (you). When to use one or the other is not always easy to decide. Someone unknown, particularly if older is generally u and old friend typically je, jou. The latter roughly coincides with 'first name basis' in English. Notice the use of u in the following.
Gesprek 1-2 ~ De handelaars
Meneer Jansen komt mevrouw De Vries tegen. Zij zijn handelaars.
* Meneer Jansen: Goedendag, mevrouw De Vries!
* Mevrouw De Vries: Goedendag, meneer Jansen!
* Meneer Jansen: Hoe gaat het met u?
* Mevrouw De Vries: Zeer goed, dank u wel. En met u?
* Meneer Jansen: Ook goed.
* Mevrouw De Vries: Mooi. Bent u meneer Standish al tegengekomen?
* Meneer Jansen: Uit Engeland? Nee. Is hij op bezoek?
* Mevrouw De Vries: Ja. Tot ziens, meneer Jansen!
* Meneer Jansen: Tot ziens, mevrouw De Vries
* Mr. Johnson encounters Mrs. De Vries. They are merchants.
* Mr. Johnson: Good day, Mrs. de Vries!
* Mrs. De Vries Good day, Mr. Johnson!
* Mr. Johnson: How do you do?
* Mrs. De Vries Very well, thank you. And how are you?
* Mr. Johnson: Fine as well.
* Mrs. De Vries: Good! Have you met Mr. Standish yet?
* Mr. Johnson: From England? No, is he visiting?
* Mrs. De Vries Yes, he is. Goodbye, Mr. Johnson.
* Mr. Johnson: Goodbye, Mrs. De Vries.
Grammatica 1-3 ~ Introduction to pronouns
A pronoun is a short word that takes the place of a noun previously mentioned in the sentence, paragraph, or conversation. There is a variety of pronouns like personal, possessive, relative and indefinite ones. Let's look at the personal pronouns first.
Personal pronouns are quite familliar in English: They are words like I,you,he,she,we,you and they. At least this is the case for the subject (nominative case). As object (accusative) some of them are different: me,you,him,us,you,them. Compare:
I see you.
You see me.
Notice how I turns into me when used as an object. You remains the same.
The system in Dutch resembles the English one quite a bit, after all the languages are close relatives:
Ik zie je.
Je ziet mij.
Much like in English ik (subject) turns into mij as object, whereas je remains the same in both roles.
As in English there are three persons in Dutch grammar: first (I), second (you) and third (he) and as in English there is a distinction in number between singular (I) and plural (we). Nevertheless the Dutch system is a little more involved, as we have seen there are:
* familiar and polite forms: je versus u.
* weak and strong forms: je versus jou.
We will deal with some of these complications later and simply summarize what we have already seen above.
Subject case (nominative)
singular plural emphasis
1st person ik wij
2nd person jij, je, u (polite) men, jullie jou (strong, familiar)
3rd person Hij (he), het (it) zij, ze zij (strong),ze (weak)
Object case (accusative)
mij â me (1st person singular, accusative case, strong)
u â you (2nd person singular, accusative case, polite)
jou â you (2nd person singular, accusative case, familliar, strong)
je â you (2nd person singular, accusative case, familliar, weak)
Exercise 1
Identify all personal pronouns in the two above conversations by person, case, number polite/familliar form and weak/strong form.
Are there any cases where the case is different from what the English translation has? Why?
key
Woordenlijst 1
appendix appendix, supplement
bezoek visit, attendance
Engeland England
vriend, vrienden friend, friends
handelaars business people, businessmen, tradesmen, merchants (pl.)
gesprek, gesprekken conversation, conversations
grammatica grammar
les lesson
straat street
woordenlijst word list
woordenschat vocabulary
op straat on (in) the street
tot ziens goodbye (lit: see you again)
uit Engeland from England
Met mij gaat het goed I am fine (lit: With me goes it well)
Goedendag! Good day (greeting)
Dag! (Good) day! Hi! Hello!
dag day
goed good
En met jou? And how are you? (lit: And with you?)
Hoe gaat het met jou (u)? How are you (lit: How goes it with you?)
hoe how
gaan to go
het gaat it goes
met with
is op bezoek is visiting
tegenkomen to meet, come across, encounter, run into
komt ... tegen comes across
bezoeken to visit
maar but, however
ook also, too, as well
dank je, dank u. thank you;
bedankt thanks
simpel simple
het it (pronoun)
mevrouw Ms., Miss, or Mrs.
meneer Mr.
mij me
nee no
ja yes
correct correct
al already, yet
mooi beautiful (in this case, 'nice' or 'fine')
zeer very
en and
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