Looks like the prepositions for telling about going by car and going by bike are different:
1. met de auto
2. op de fiets
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Verzoek geweigerd!
I’ve just tried looking up a word on http://woordenlijst.org, but something went wrong and I saw this instead:
Verzoek geweigerd. Wacht een paar seconden en probeer het opnieuw.
I can instantly understand the meaning of the second sentence, though “opnieuw” is a new word for me, but it obviously stands for “once again”. However, the first sentence requires some attention.
het verzoek – request
weigeren – 1. to refuse, to reject, to turn down 2. to fail, to be jammed, to jam
opnieuw – (once) again, once more.
So “Verzoek geweigerd” stands for “Request denied”. Awesome! 😀
Gebruik uw sleutelkaart – Use your keycard
It’s been a while with no posts. The first week at work after two weeks of the summer vacation felt intense tiring and the time has been just flying by with the speed of light. So far I got through the 2nd unit/week of Di3m. Haven’t touched any Dutch during the past two days. Today I realized that I have this traitorous feeling of silently giving up and just get back to my daily routines, where there’s no place for learning a new language. But well, that’s why I started this blog.
It’s Saturday today and this seems to be a good day to start the 3rd unit.
U kunt uw (brom)fiets stallen aan de overkant of rechts om de hoek.
(Brom)fietsen worden verwijderd.
U kunt uw (brom)fiets stallen aan de overkant of rechts om de hoek.
(Brom)fietsen worden verwijderd.
U kunt uw (brom)fiets stallen aan de overkant of rechts om de hoek.
1. You can store your moped/bicycle on the opposite side of the street or right around the corner.
2. You can store your moped/bicycle on the opposite side of the street or to the right from the corner.
I am not quite sure if 1. or 2. is correct.
overkant – other side, opposite side (e.g. of a street)
de bromfiets – moped
de fiets – bicycle
het brom – buzz
stallen – store, to garage, put up/away
(Brom)fietsen worden verwijderd.
Mopeds/bicycles will be removed
verwijderen – to remove
Slechts en slecht
The spelling of these two words is so similar that I started wondering if there’s any good reason for that. When I compare their English equivalents I see no connection. This might take a while to figure out.
slechts – only, merely, just
slecht – bad, poor
Di3m Week 2 vocabulary
een beetje – a bit
bijna – almost
daar – there
eigenlijk – actually, really
de etalage – shop window
het is geen gezicht! – it’s not a pretty sight!
het haar – hair
de jurk – dress
kaal – bald
mejuffrouw – Miss
natuurlijk – natural (naturally, of course)
normaal – normal
nou! – well!
de pruik – wig
de rok – skirt
tenminste – at least
verschrikkelijk – terrible
versleten – worn-out
wat jammer! – what a pity!
wel nee – oh no
zie je – do you see
de wolf (wolven) – wolf
het dak (daken) – roof
het glas (glazen) – glass
het schip (schepen) – ship
de stad (steden) – town
de bezem – broom
het laken – sheet
de tante – aunt
de ambitie – ambition
de tram – tram
het perron – platform
het blad (bladeren) – leaf
het ei (eieren) – egg
het lied (liederen) – song
het volk (volkeren/volken) – nation, people
het been (beenderen) – bone
het been (benen) – leg
de biografie (biografieёn) – biography
heel – very
jazeker – indeed
kieskeurig – choosy, fussy
luistert u eens – listen here
moeilijk – difficult
de oom – uncle
over – about
de roman – novel
saai – boring, dull
weet ik veel? – how do I know?
Female nouns
-in (plural: -in+nen, e.g.: boerinnen)
de boerin – female farmer, farmer’s wife
de leeuwin – lioness
de Rus, de Russin – Russian man/woman
de koning, de koningin – king, queen
-es (plural: -es+sen, e.g.: leraressen)
de leraar, de lerares – teacher (m/f)
de prins, de prinses – prince, princess
-esse (plural: -esse+n, e.g.: secretaressen)
de secretaris, de secretaresse – secretary (m/f)
de bibliothecaris, de bibliothecaresse – librarian (m/f)
-e (plural -e+n or -e+s) Unstressed.
de student, de studente – student (m/f)
de telefonist, de telefoniste -telephonist (m/f)
Engels, Engelse – Englishman, English woman
Nederlands, Nederlandse – Dutch man, Dutch woman
-ster (plural -ster+s)
de schrijver, de schrijfster – writer (m/f)
de verpleegster – nurse (m/f)
Hij/het as English “it”
According to Di3M, when I want to say it (pronoun) in Dutch I should think of a gender.
I should use het with the neuter het-nouns.
I should use hij with the common-gender de-nouns.
For example:
Het huis: het is groot.
De boot: hij is groot.
Dutch on Book2.de
I covered the topics/lessons 1-40 on Book2.de during the past 2 month. It seems to be the right time to take a break and go through all those topics again to see how well I can remember them. So starting with today no more new topics on book2.de unless I reach the topic 40 once again.
The on-line resources
Here’s a list of the on-line resources which I found useful. Some web-sites have the companion mobile applications available.
http://www.youtube.com/user/dutchforn00bs — A series of video-lessons for the beginners. A Dutch girl explains the basic topics in a funny and easy-going manner. This was the very first portion of knowledge I got.
http://www.book2.de — A treasure for a language learner! The web-site contains lessons for studying about 50 different languages, including Dutch: “book2 corresponds to the Common European Framework levels A1 and A2 and is therefore suitable for all types of schools and students.” There are 100 lessons with audio to go through, which cover many everyday life topics. All the audio was recorded by the native speakers (professional narrators, I suppose). There’s a great Android application which helps to study the same lessons on the go: 50 languages Android app
http://quizlet.com/subject/dutch-nederlands — Many-many flash cards with the Dutch words, created by the users of quizlet.com. Those cards can be downloaded and used off-line on an Android device. Here’s an application that I use to download, store and use the cards: Flashcards+ Android app It’s really handy. You can create, store and use your own Flashcards as well.
http://www.vandale.nl/opzoeken — A high-quality on-line dictionary. Supports English, French, German, Spanish and some other European languages.
http://www.dutchgrammar.com — A very good free Dutch grammar reference.
http://woordenlijst.org/zoek/ — Helps to check the grammatical forms of the words. For instance, I use it to check if a noun is a “het” or a “de” one. The verb forms can also be looked up.
::Keep in Dutch:: 