Learn how to use the comparative and superlative to talk about special offers
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 11 - What's a Good Price for a Computer in the Netherlands? Michael here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the comparative and the superlative in Dutch.This conversation takes place in Ben's room, while the speakers are watching TV. |
| Jacob: It's between Ben and John. |
| Michael: The conversation is between two friends, so they’ll be using informal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| John: Hé Ben, zag je dat? Laptops in de aanbieding. |
| Ben: Nee niet gezien. Wat was het? |
| John: Een goede laptop voor 300 euro, bij CompSon. Goedkoop hé. |
| Ben: Dat is toch net zo duur als bij Dixy! |
| John: Nee, bij Dixy zijn ze duurder dan bij CompSon. |
| Ben: De duurste is vaak ook de beste. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| John: Hé Ben, zag je dat? Laptops in de aanbieding. |
| Ben: Nee niet gezien. Wat was het? |
| John: Een goede laptop voor 300 euro, bij CompSon. Goedkoop hé. |
| Ben: Dat is toch net zo duur als bij Dixy! |
| John: Nee, bij Dixy zijn ze duurder dan bij CompSon. |
| Ben: De duurste is vaak ook de beste. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| John: Hey Ben, did you see the thing about the laptops on sale? |
| Ben: No I didn't see it. What was it? |
| John: CompSon has very good laptops on sale for 300 euros. That's cheap. |
| Ben: But that’s just as expensive as at Dixy's! |
| John: No, at Dixy's they are more expensive than at CompSon. |
| Ben: The most expensive one is often also the best one. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Jacob, when do you think is the best season to buy things in the Netherlands? |
| Jacob: I don’t think there’s an especially good or bad day to go shopping, but the end of the cold season and the end of the warm season are always good for buying clothes. |
| Michael: Because shops want to get rid of last seasons’ stock, right? |
| Jacob: Exactly. Actually we do have a very fun and interesting day which is called Koningsdag, or King’s Day. On that day you’ll find a free street market. |
| Michael: In a free market, anyone, with or without a license, can sell basically anything. |
| Jacob: Right. Some people sell their old books, others sell beer, while others organize small casinos. Within limits, everything is permitted. |
| Michael: That sounds interesting. If you like shopping, don’t miss this day. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: zag [natural native speed] |
| Michael: saw |
| Jacob: zag [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zag [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: aanbieding [natural native speed] |
| Michael: sale, special offer |
| Jacob: aanbieding[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: aanbieding [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: goede [natural native speed] |
| Michael: good |
| Jacob: goede[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: goede [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: goedkoop [natural native speed] |
| Michael: cheap |
| Jacob: goedkoop[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: goedkoop [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: bij [natural native speed] |
| Michael: at |
| Jacob: bij[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: bij [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: beste [natural native speed] |
| Michael: best |
| Jacob: beste[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: beste [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: Even goed als. |
| Michael: meaning "As good as." |
| Jacob: It’s the comparative form. Goed means “good” and the words even and als, are like “as” in English. |
| Michael: So literally it means “as good as” |
| Jacob: With pattern plus an adjective between even and als, any adjective can be used in the comparative form. |
| Michael: That sounds easy. Can you give us an example? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say.. Piet is even groot als Jan. |
| Michael: ..which means "Piet is as big as Jan." |
| Jacob: In the sentence, I put the word groot, meaning “big,” between even and als. |
| Michael: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Net zo duur als. |
| Michael: meaning "As expensive as." This is a different way to create a comparative phrase, right? |
| Jacob: Yes. You can also use the words net zo which means “as” with the word als, also meaning “as,” to mean “as something as”. For most cases, net zo can be replaced by even. |
| Michael: I see. Can you give us an example? |
| Jacob: Sure. First let’s say Deze computer is net zo goed als die. |
| Michael: “This computer is as good as that one.” |
| Jacob: In this sentence, I used net zo and als. Or you can say Deze computer is even goed als die, using even and als. The meaning is exactly the same. |
| Michael: Can you give us another example using this expression? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say.. Dit is net zo duur als goud. |
| Michael: .. which means "This is as expensive as gold." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Duurder dan. |
| Michael: meaning "more expensive than." |
| Jacob: To make the other form of the comparative, the word dan can be used. It means “than” as in “more than” in Dutch. |
| Michael: I see. Can you give us an example? Let’s say “This computer is more expensive than that one.” |
| Jacob: Deze computer is duurder dan die. At the end of the sentence, I used dan die to mean “than that” |
| Michael: We’ll learn more about that pattern in the grammar, so please don’t worry about it too much now. Can you give us another example using this word? |
| Jacob: Sure. For example, you can say.. Het leven wordt duurder. |
| Michael: .. which means "Life is getting more expensive." Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the comparative and the superlative in Dutch. In one of the earlier lessons we looked at the comparative. Now let’s go a bit further. |
| Jacob: As you know, there are three important steps to build up to the superlative. Let’s see how they work. |
| Michael: First, the statement. |
| Jacob: Something like “good.” For example, Dit bier is goed. |
| Michael: “This beer is good.” And next, the comparative. |
| Jacob: Which is like “better than.” For example, Dit bier is beter dan dat bier. |
| Michael: “This beer is better than that one.” |
| Jacob: At the end of the sentence, we said beter dan dat which means “better than that.” |
| Michael: And we also have another form of the comparative, right? |
| Jacob: Yes. something like “as good as.” Dit bier is net zo goed als dat bier. |
| Michael: “This beer is as good as that beer.” And next we have the superlative. |
| Jacob: For example, Dit bier is het beste. |
| Michael: “This beer is the best.” In episode 8 you learned how to create comparatives as well as the grammar structure “as good as.” Now let’s focus on the superlative. Jacob, how can we make the superlative in Dutch? |
| Jacob: Simply add -st, which is spelled “s”, “t”, or -ste, “s”, “t”, “e” in general. For example, klein which means “small” becomes kleinste to mean “smallest.” It’s got ste at the end. |
| Michael: So “small”, “smaller” and “smallest” in Dutch are.. |
| Jacob: klein - kleiner - kleinste. |
| Michael: What about “nice”, “nicer” and “nicest” in Dutch? |
| Jacob: It can be leuk - leuker - leukst. You just need to add st to this verb. However, for the adjective goed, which means “good,” you should remember that it’s an exception. It doesn’t become goed - goeder - goedest. Instead, it becomes goed - beter - best.” |
| Michael: That’s good to know, and it’s not too different from English. Can you give us one more example? |
| Jacob: Sure. Duur is the adjective meaning “expensive” in Dutch. To make the superlative or to mean “most expensive” you can add ste at the end, and say duurste. Using this, you can say.. Nee, winkel A is de duurste. |
| Michael: meaning “No, shop A is the most expensive.” Listeners, to see more examples, make sure to check out our lesson notes. |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot ziens. |
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