Learn about formal Dutch
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| Michael: How does formal Dutch work? |
| Atie: And when is it used? |
| Michael: At DutchPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Jos Jansen, a high-school student, meets the mother of his neighbor friend, Karen Lee. He says, |
| "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Dialogue |
| Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Michael: "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| Michael: "Fine, thank you. How are you?" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you will be learning how formal Dutch works and when it is used. Let's start with when it is used. |
| These days, in the Netherlands, people are not as concerned about sticking to formal language usage as they used to be. That said, to be on the safe side, it is probably best to use formal language under certain circumstances. Those circumstances include someone you don't know well who is older than you, someone in a position of authority, and in formal written communication. |
| The rules become quite fluid when it comes to people who are older than you but who you know well. Some might wish you to be formal and some might wish the opposite. Your mother-in-law might insist on being addressed in a formal way, while your father-in-law might insist on informal language around him. It depends on the relationship. Generally, if you are a native English speaker, a good way to remember when to be formal is when you would be polite in your own culture. |
| Similarly, you can be informal in situations where politeness might seem out of place or unnecessary. Being formal with a child or teenager might come across as strange, for instance. It might also seem odd to be too formal with friends and immediate family. Something to remember is that Dutch people will sometimes, when referring to parents and other older relatives, use formal language in order to show their respect for those people. My advice is - if you're not sure whether to be formal or informal, be formal. |
| Now that you have a better idea of when to be formal, let's talk about how to be formal in Dutch. If you are in the Netherlands for the first time you are likely to be introducing yourself often. The simplest way to do this in an informal setting is to start with |
| Atie: Hallo, ik heet... |
| Michael: which means, "Hello, I am…" then add your name. After that you can say, "Nice to meet you," or |
| Atie: Leuk je te ontmoeten. |
| Michael: Your full greeting will sound something like this: |
| Atie: Hallo, ik heet Atie. Leuk je te ontmoeten. |
| Michael: If the situation you are in is more formal, then you need to change the wording a little. Instead of saying, |
| Atie: Hallo |
| Michael: in the beginning, you can say |
| Atie: Goedendag |
| Michael: which means, "good day." After that, you can still add the same |
| Atie: ik heet |
| Michael: and then your name, but instead of saying, |
| Atie: Leuk je te ontmoeten. |
| Michael: it would be better to use the formal |
| Atie: Aangenaam |
| Atie: Goedendag, ik heet Atie van den Berg. Aangenaam. |
| Michael: This last word, |
| Atie: aangenaam, |
| Michael: is a good one to know because you can use it in both informal or formal situations. Often, after introducing yourself to someone and declaring how nice it is to meet them, it is customary to inquire after their well-being. If it is someone you don't know well and they are older than you, then you will want to be polite, or formal. You can say |
| Atie: Hoe gaat het? |
| Michael: which means "How are you?" and translates, literally, to "How goes it?." Alternatively, if the person is someone familiar, with whom you have a relaxed relationship, you can say |
| Atie: Hoe is het? |
| Michael: or "How are you doing?." The literal translation is "How is it?" This is a casual, informal greeting. On the other hand, if the person is someone to whom you wish to show respect, then you would be advised to use the very formal |
| Atie: Hoe gaat het met u? |
| Michael: The literal translation of this is "How goes it with you?" but the English equivalent would be to address the person you are talking to as "sir" or "ma'am." In other words, you would be asking, "How are you, sir?" or "How are you ma'am?." Part of the reason this greeting is so formal is that it contains the formal pronoun |
| Atie: u. |
| Michael: You will learn more about this a little later in the lesson. This level of formality is appropriate at weddings, funerals, anniversaries, farewell parties, and the like, as well as when first meeting colleagues. Generally, in the Netherlands, after the initial, formal meeting with colleagues, there is a social get-together with drinks. Some Dutch people are fond of referring to these two phases as the dry and the wet phase, respectively. |
| Continuing with greetings, let's compare a couple of formal and informal greetings. The first of these is another really formal one. In this case, the speaker is saying, "Sir, what an honor to meet you. How are you?" |
| Atie: Meneer, wat een eer u te ontmoeten. Hoe maakt u het? |
| Michael: This is very formal and you'd use it in formal situations, such as when meeting a person of high standing in the government perhaps. A similar style of greeting, but completely opposite in terms of formality is |
| Atie: Hee, leuk je te zien man! |
| Michael: which means "Hey, nice to see you, man!" Please don't use this when meeting a politician! As you can hear, this is a very relaxed, casual greeting and you could use it with a friend you know well. Staying with informal ways of addressing another person, let's imagine a situation where someone is providing a service. Perhaps they are a store attendant and a customer walks in. An informal way to offer to help the customer is to say, "What can I do for you?" or |
| Atie: Wat kan ik voor je doen? |
| Michael: If the store is a fancy one, the attendant might want to be more formal and say, "What can I help you with?" or |
| Atie: Waarmee kan ik u helpen? |
| Michael: Again, the use of the formal pronoun for "you" makes it formal. Generally, when providing a service for people you do not know, it's a good idea to stick to the more formal way of addressing them. Another way to be polite but without being too formal is to use the very useful verb |
| Atie: kunnen |
| Michael: which means "could." This verb conjugates in different ways, depending on the pronoun in the sentence, so we will look at a few sentences using different pronouns with this verb. First, let's look at an instance where it conjugates as |
| Atie: kan. |
| Michael: A good example would be the sentence, "Can you help me?" which, in Dutch, is |
| Atie: Kan je me helpen? |
| Michael: This is polite but without being overly formal. |
| Michael: If this person can't help you and there is someone else who might be able to, you could ask "Can he help me?:" |
| Atie: Kan hij mij helpen? |
| Michael: However, if the other person was female you would ask: |
| Atie: Kan ze me helpen? |
| Michael: or "Can she help me?" As I pointed out earlier, all of these singular pronouns take |
| Atie: kan. |
| Michael: But it's different when we come to the plural pronouns. For instance, if you want to ask, "Can you help me?" but you are asking a group of people for assistance, then you would say: |
| Atie: Kunnen jullie me helpen? |
| Michael: You would use the same form of the verb when asking "Can they help me?" |
| Atie: Kunnen ze mij helpen? |
| Michael: So we now have two forms of the verb. They are |
| Atie: kunnen |
| Michael: and |
| Atie: kan |
| Michael: but there is a third form we have yet to discuss, and that is when you are using the formal pronoun |
| Atie: u |
| Michael: When using this pronoun, the conjugation of the verb is |
| Atie: kunt |
| Michael: as in |
| Atie: Kunt u mij helpen? |
| Michael: or "Can you help me?" As I mentioned earlier, I will talk a little more about this pronoun shortly. What's important to note here is the three ways to conjugate the verb meaning "could." They are |
| Atie: kunnen, kan |
| Michael: and |
| Atie: kunt |
| Michael: You have now learned a little more about how to use formal language in Dutch and I am sure you will find it very useful when you are conversing with Dutch people. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Jos Jansen says "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Atie as Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Michael: In this question, Jos has used the pronoun |
| Atie: u |
| Michael: and, as promised, it's time to talk about it. I've mentioned that it is a formal pronoun and that it means "you." The informal pronoun for "you" is |
| Atie: je |
| Michael: What I might not have mentioned is that the formal pronoun is used for both the singular and the plural forms of "you" in formal situations. The informal version of the plural "you" is |
| Atie: jullie |
| Michael: but the formal version is |
| Atie: u. |
| Michael: So, if you are asking for help, it doesn't matter if you are talking to a group of people or one person - either way, the same formal pronoun is used: |
| Atie: Kunt u mij helpen? |
| Michael: It's always safest to be formal when addressing people for the first time. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Karen Lee says "Fine, thank you. How are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Atie as Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| Michael: Here, as you can hear, Karen addressed Jos with the informal "you" as he is younger than her. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned how to use formal Dutch in various situations. You learned that, these days, more and more Dutch people are not so insistent on formal language but you also learned that it is best to use formal Dutch when you are uncertain. We talked about several ways to use formal Dutch, such as how to greet people for the first time and how to ask for help in different situations. You learned how to conjugate the verb |
| Atie: kunnen |
| Michael: in accordance with the pronoun that is being used in the sentence and you learned about the formal pronoun |
| Atie: u. |
| Michael: I've said it a few times already, but always remember that if you are not sure whether to be formal or informal, choose the formal. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: If you've been to the Netherlands or if you've been studying Dutch for a while you might have noticed the two forms of "please" that people use. These are |
| Atie: Alsjeblieft |
| Michael: which is the informal form, and |
| Atie: Alstublieft |
| Michael: which is the formal way of using it. Now that you know about the formal pronoun |
| Atie: u, |
| Michael: the difference between these two is easier to understand. In the informal version, you can hear the informal pronoun for "you," which is |
| Atie: je |
| Michael: It's the second syllable. Listen to the word again: |
| Atie: Alsjeblieft |
| Michael: Did you hear it? Now, if you listen to the formal version of "please" you will hear, also in the second syllable, the formal pronoun for "you." Here is the word: |
| Atie: Alstublieft |
| Michael: Pretty obvious now that you hear it, right? This should help you to remember which one to use in the future. Of course, rules are meant to be broken and this rule is no exception. A rather odd use of the formal version of "please" can be heard when a Dutch person is paying a person at a salespoint. When they hand over the money or card they will say |
| Atie: Alstublieft |
| Michael: and the salesperson will reply with |
| Atie: Dank u wel. |
| Michael: or "Thank you very much." Then, when the salesperson hands over the cash or receipt, they will say |
| Atie: Alstublieft |
| Michael: and the customer will say |
| Atie: Dank u wel. |
| Michael: Don't ask me why it's done in this way. It's just one of those idiosyncratic things that all cultures have and that we simply have to accept. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after Atie focusing on pronunciation. Do you remember how Jos Jansen says "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Atie as Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Atie as Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Atie as Jos Jansen: Mevr. Lee, hoe gaat het met u? |
| Michael: And do you remember how Karen Lee says "Fine, thank you. How are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Atie as Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Atie as Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Atie as Karen Lee: Goed, dank je wel. Hoe gaat het met jou? |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: In this lesson, we talked about meeting people for the first time. This is something that might happen often if you are traveling in the Netherlands. Fortunately, Dutch people tend to be quite open towards foreigners. People of other nationalities who have emigrated to the Netherlands generally fare well and are fully integrated into Dutch society. For this reason, should you be traveling in the Netherlands, or if you are planning to move there, you can probably expect to be well received. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Atie: Doei! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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