Learn how to use Dutch particles
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Goedendag allemaal! Mijn naam is Peter! |
| Judith: Judith here! Absolute Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 21 - Running the Dutch Birthday Gauntlet |
| Peter: Hello everyone! I'm Peter, and welcome to DutchPOD101.com. |
| Judith: With us, you'll learn to speak Dutch with fun and effective lessons. |
| Peter: We also provide you with cultural insights... |
| Judith: ...and tips you won't find in a textbook. |
| Judith: In this lesson you'll will learn how to use Dutch particles. |
| Peter: This conversation takes place at a Dutch home. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Marijke and Loes, her daughter. |
| Peter: The speakers are family, therefore they will be speaking informal Dutch. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| M: Het is de verjaardag van Anna. Ik mis haar een beetje dus gaan we maar even bij haar langs. Leuk toch, samen bij haar op bezoek. |
| L: Ik wil wel naar haar toe maar nu heb ik even geen zin. Ik vind het niet leuk om iedereen te feliciteren. |
| M: Dat kan vervelend zijn, maar je zegt ‘gefeliciteerd met Anna’ tegen iedereen. |
| L: Neem papa maar mee, die vindt het leuk op zo’n verjaardag. |
| M: Goed dan maar met papa. |
| L: Wat ga je voor haar kopen? |
| M: Ik weet het nog niet, misschien bloemen of een boek. |
| L: Het is beter om een boekenbon te geven. |
| M: Ja, dan ga ik nu even naar de boekenwinkel om zo’n boekenbon te kopen. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| M: Het is de verjaardag van Anna. Ik mis haar een beetje dus gaan we maar even bij haar langs. Leuk toch, samen bij haar op bezoek. |
| L: Ik wil wel naar haar toe maar nu heb ik even geen zin. Ik vind het niet leuk om iedereen te feliciteren. |
| M: Dat kan vervelend zijn, maar je zegt ‘gefeliciteerd met Anna’ tegen iedereen. |
| L: Neem papa maar mee, die vindt het leuk op zo’n verjaardag. |
| M: Goed dan maar met papa. |
| L: Wat ga je voor haar kopen? |
| M: Ik weet het nog niet, misschien bloemen of een boek. |
| L: Het is beter om een boekenbon te geven. |
| M: Ja, dan ga ik nu even naar de boekenwinkel om zo’n boekenbon te kopen. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| M: Het is de verjaardag van Anna. Ik mis haar een beetje dus gaan we maar even bij haar langs. Leuk toch, samen bij haar op bezoek. |
| Judith: It’s Anna’s birthday. I miss her a bit, so let’s go drop by. It’ll be fun, visiting her together. |
| L: Ik wil wel naar haar toe maar nu heb ik even geen zin. Ik vind het niet leuk om iedereen te feliciteren. |
| Judith: I would like to go to her place but I just don’t feel like it right now. I don’t find it fun to congratulate everyone. |
| M: Dat kan vervelend zijn, maar je zegt ‘gefeliciteerd met Anna’ tegen iedereen. |
| Judith: It can be boring, but you say ‘congratulations on Anna[’s birthday]’ to everybody. |
| L: Neem papa maar mee, die vindt het leuk op zo’n verjaardag. |
| Judith: Just take daddy, he finds birthdays fun. |
| M: Goed dan maar met papa. |
| Judith: Fine then, just with daddy. |
| L: Wat ga je voor haar kopen? |
| Judith: What are you going to buy for her? |
| M: Ik weet het nog niet, misschien bloemen of een boek. |
| Judith: I don’t know yet, maybe flowers or a book. |
| L: Het is beter om een boekenbon te geven. |
| Judith: It’s better to give a gift certificate for books. |
| M: Ja, dan ga ik nu even naar de boekenwinkel om zo’n boekenbon te kopen. |
| Judith: Yes, then I’ll just go to the bookstore to buy a gift certificate. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Culture Dutch birthday parties |
| Judith: Okay , what is is this about Dutch birthdays and congratulating everyone? |
| Peter: Dutch birthday parties are very peculiar. There is not only the circle where everybody sits in but also: At birthday parties, you do not only congratulate the person having birthday, but as a guest you shake hands with all other guests already present and congratulate everyone of them, saying something like ‘gefeliciteerd met Marijke’ (congratulations on Marijke’s birthday). |
| Peter: Sometimes you the relationship with the people, than you might say ‘gefeliciteerd met uw zoon/dochter/broertje/vriend, etc.’ (congratulations on your son's/daughter's/brother’s/friend’s birthday). |
| Peter: But we have more special birthday traditions. The birthday calendar for example. The Dutch have a special birthday calendar which is a kind of hanging notebook with the 12 months of the year, and we use it to write down all the birthdays of family and friends on it. In order that we don’t forget them. What we also do in order not to forget birthdays is that we hang this special birthday calendar usually in the bathroom. So with every visit, we can see if someone has a birthday coming up. |
| VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Peter: verjaardag [natural native speed] |
| Judith: birthday |
| Peter: ver-jaar-dag [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: verjaardag [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: missen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to miss |
| Peter: mis-sen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: missen [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: langs gaan [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to visit |
| Peter: langs gaan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: langs gaan [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: op bezoek gaan [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to visit |
| Peter: op bezoek gaan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: op bezoek gaan [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: iedereen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: everyone, everybody |
| Peter: ie-der-een [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: iedereen [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: feliciteren [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to congratulate |
| Peter: fe-li-ci-te-ren [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: feliciteren [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: vervelend [natural native speed] |
| Judith: annoying, boring |
| Peter: ver-ve-lend [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: vervelend [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: papa [natural native speed] |
| Judith: daddy |
| Peter: pa-pa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: papa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: misschien [natural native speed] |
| Judith: perhaps, maybe |
| Peter: mis-schien [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: misschien [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: beter [natural native speed] |
| Judith: better |
| Peter: be-ter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: beter [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: bon [natural native speed] |
| Judith: coupon, gift certificate; receipt |
| Peter: bon [slowly] |
| Peter: bon [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Peter: winkel [natural native speed] |
| Judith: shop, store |
| Peter: win-kel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: winkel [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Peter: The first phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| 1a ‘Bij haar langs gaan’ which is a synonym for ‘op bezoek gaan’ (both mean ‘to visit’). Bij iemand langs gaan’ is informal, something friends may say to each other “Ik kom morgen even langs” (I’ll drop by your house / I’ll come over). |
| 1b In contrast, “op bezoek gaan“ can be used both formally and informally. "Ik kom morgen bij je op bezoek" (I’ll come and visit you tomorrow). "Ik kom graag bij u op bezoek" (I like visiting you). |
| 2 "Boekenbon" (gift certificate for books) and "boekenwinkel" (bookshop) are both compound nouns based on "boek". Here we use the plural "boeken" rather than "boek" as a base form because you can buy several books there but also because the words flow better like this. |
Lesson focus |
| Judith: The focus of this lesson is ‘the particles’. |
| Peter: The little words “maar”, “wel”, “even” and “nu” can give a sentence a completely different meaning. They give an extra color to the sentence, they emphasize contrast, they express irritation, they express doubt, they soften a statement, or they give brusque advice. |
| Judith: When speaking you can alter the tone of your voice, but in writing that’s impossible; that’s where these words come in. They are hard to translate, however. Let's have examples for each. |
| Peter: 1 wel - Wat is er dan? What’s the matter? Wat is er dan wel? If it’s not this then what is it? |
| 2 nu - Dat is de tweede keer. That’s the second time. Dat is nu de tweede keer. That’s the second time now (please be more careful). |
| 3 maar - Dan moet je een kopje koffie nemen. Then you have to have a cup of coffee. Dan moet je maar een kopje koffie nemen. Then you just have to have a cup of coffee (seeing that there’s nothing else). So here the ‘maar’ is ‘just’ |
| 4 even - Mag ik de koffie? Can I have the coffee? Mag ik de koffie even? Can I have the coffee please? |
| Judith: It’s not exactly the meaning of please but it does make the phrase feel a little bit more polite. |
| Peter: “Even” is polite here. Even also means ‘a little moment’. |
Outro |
| Judith: Okay, That just about does it for today. |
| Peter: Listeners, ever have any Dutch language or lesson-related questions? |
| Judith: Or maybe you have some feedback for us... |
| Judith: Leave us a comment or ask a question on the lessons page! |
| Peter: It's super simple. Go to DutchPod101.com... |
| Judith: ...click on comments, |
| Peter: ...enter your comment and name, |
| Judith: ...and that's it! |
| Peter: Commenting is a a great way to practice writing, to practice reading in Dutch. |
| Judith: It helps you learn faster. |
| Peter: And it helps us get better through your feedback. |
| Judith: No excuses. |
| Peter: Go to DutchPod101.com, and comment now. |
| Judith: NOW! |
| Judith: So, see you next time! |
| Peter: Tot ziens! Doei! |
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