Learn how to use diminutives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella:Hi everyone, Gabriella here! Welcome to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 1, Lesson 21 – Going on a Train Ride in the Netherlands. |
| Jacob:Hallo! I'm Jacob. Thanks for coming back, listeners! |
| Gabriella:We’re going to be talking about traveling in the Netherlands and so Jacob and I will teach you specifically how to buy a train ticket. |
| Jacob:Very useful, listeners! And, surprise, surprise! In the dialogue you’ll hear somebody buying a train ticket. The conversation is between a passenger and a ticket-clerk, so the language will be formal. |
| Gabriella:In this lesson we'll teach you some more Dutch while concentrating on the use of the diminutive. |
| Jacob:Yes. The Dutch are very fond of using these and you’re about to find out why! |
| Gabriella:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Hein: Goedemorgen, kan ik u helpen? |
| Sara: Twee kaartjes naar Rotterdam alstublieft. |
| Hein: Enkele reis of retour? |
| Sara: Retourtjes alstublieft. |
| Hein: Alstublieft. De trein vertrekt van spoor 4b. |
| Sara: Hoe laat vertrekt de trein? |
| Hein: De Intercity trein vertrekt over 3 minuutjes. Goede reis! |
| Gabriella: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Hein: Goedemorgen, kan ik u helpen? |
| Sara: Twee kaartjes naar Rotterdam alstublieft. |
| Hein: Enkele reis of retour? |
| Sara: Retourtjes alstublieft. |
| Hein: Alstublieft. De trein vertrekt van spoor 4b. |
| Sara: Hoe laat vertrekt de trein? |
| Hein: De Intercity trein vertrekt over 3 minuutjes. Goede reis! |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Hein: Goedemorgen, kan ik u helpen? |
| Gabriella: Good morning, how can I help you? |
| Sara: Twee kaartjes naar Rotterdam alstublieft. |
| Gabriella: Two tickets to Rotterdam, please. |
| Hein: Enkele reis of retour? |
| Gabriella: One-way or return tickets? |
| Sara: Retourtjes alstublieft. |
| Gabriella: Return tickets, please. |
| Hein: Alstublieft. De trein vertrekt van spoor 4b. |
| Gabriella: Here you are. The train departs from platform 4b. |
| Sara: Hoe laat vertrekt de trein? |
| Gabriella: At what time does the train leave? |
| Hein: De Intercity trein vertrekt over 3 minuutjes. Goede reis! |
| Gabriella: The Intercity train departs in three minutes. Have a good journey! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella:So traveling in the Netherlands! There must be many nice things to see! Can you always get around by train, Jacob? |
| Jacob:Yes, the railroad network is quite extensive. It basically covers the whole country. For some places you might have to take the bus from the station for the last few kilometers. |
| Gabriella:So, where are the really nice places? What would you advise? |
| Jacob:As you probably know, Holland is famous for its flowers. The Keukenhof is a beautiful place if you want to enjoy seeing flowers. |
| Gabriella:And what time of the year would you have to go? |
| Jacob:In the spring. That’s when it's at its best. And besides, April and May are probably the best months to visit; good weather if you’re lucky and tulips all over the country. |
| Gabriella:Good, I’ll remember that. Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary and phrases. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jacob: goede reis [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: good journey |
| Jacob: goede reis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: goede reis [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: enkele reis [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: one-way |
| Jacob: enkele reis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: enkele reis [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: kaartje [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: ticket |
| Jacob: kaartje [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: kaartje [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: retour [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: return |
| Jacob: retour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: retour [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: vertrekken [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to leave |
| Jacob: vertrekken [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vertrekken [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: over [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: in |
| Jacob: over [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: over [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: spoor [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: platform |
| Jacob: spoor [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: spoor [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: Intercity [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Intercity (express) |
| Jacob: Intercity [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: Intercity [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella:Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. They seem to have a lot of different words for tickets. Could you explain that a little? I hear kaartje and retourtje, and other words. |
| Jacob:First of all, Sara asks for kaartjes which is a ticket. Kaartjes, with an “s” added at the end is the plural, so it’s een kaartje and twee kaartjes. By the way kaartje is also used for other tickets, such as theater tickets. |
| Gabriella:I see, so now let’s talk a little bit about return and one-way tickets. Because they have different names, don’t they. |
| Jacob:Yes, a one-way ticket is called an enkele reis, which means “single journey,” and retour, short for retourkaartje is “return” which is used instead of the whole word “return ticket”. |
| Gabriella:But I heard retour and retourtje. What’s the difference? |
| Jacob:Retourtje is the diminutive of retour. You'll hear a lot of that in Dutch. But we'll talk about that in the grammar section. |
| Gabriella:So what about the word spoor for “platform”? I know the Dutch railway company is called Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Is there a link? |
| Jacob:Yes. Spoor is the word used for “railroad track”. For example, on a sign such as “Do not walk on the tracks,” you’ll see the word spoor, but it’s now also used for “platform” where the train stops. |
| Gabriella:And the word Intercity doesn’t sound very Dutch, or am I mistaken? |
| Jacob:You’re right! It’s an English word that is used in many European countries. It’s the name given to the faster trains that don’t stop at every station. You know the ones that only stop at the major stations? |
| Gabriella:Ah yes, I know the ones you mean. |
| Jacob:Nowadays there are also international trains called “Eurocity”. They travel between big cities in different countries. |
| Gabriella:All right, that was informative. |
| Jacob:Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella:In this lesson, we’re going to learn about diminutives. Earlier on you mentioned that a lot of diminutives are used in Dutch. |
| Jacob:Yes, diminutives are used to convey the idea that something or somebody is small or cute. In Dutch we use the suffixes je or tje, depending on the last letter of the word. |
| Gabriella:Could you give us some examples? |
| Jacob:Certainly. Let’s say the youngest child in the family is called Jan. That’s a very common name. But if he’s a cute little boy, everybody will call him Jantje, especially if his father is also called Jan. |
| Gabriella:So in this case, it’s not only to stress the fact that he’s cute and small, but it also helps to avoid confusion. |
| Jacob:Yes, in this case. But it’s very commonly used, and sometimes the name with the diminutive stays. So when this little Jantje has grown up and he’s two meters tall, his name might still be Jantje. |
| Gabriella:So a two-meter tall “Little Johnny”! That sounds funny. |
| Jacob:Yes it does, but it really happens. |
| Gabriella:[laughter] So, let’s go back to the train tickets. We had the word retourtje. How come? |
| Jacob:Yes I know, there’s no real reason to use the diminutive. There’s nothing small or cute about a return. But it’s completely normal to use retourtje instead of retour. In the same way you could also say enkeltje for enkele reis, meaning “one-way ticket.” |
| Gabriella:But I noticed that the ticket clerk says retour’and Sara says retourtje. Why is that? |
| Jacob:Somehow, the diminutive is used more often by women than by men. |
| Gabriella:I see. Let’s look at some more examples from the dialogue. |
| Jacob:When Sara asks Hein at what time the train leaves, he answers over 3 minuutjes so “in 3 minutes”. Of course it has nothing to do with the size or the cuteness of a minute. In this case it is used to emphasize the fact that there are only three minutes left. You would never say 58 minuutjes. |
| Gabriella:I get it. So it’s used for small or cute things and people, to express affection, and to emphasize that there’s little time left or a little of something. |
| Jacob:Yes, a very good conclusion. Stukje is another one; “a little piece” of taart or “cake”, for example. |
| Gabriella:Let’s get een stukje taart! |
Outro |
| Gabriella:Okay, that’s it for this lesson. See you soon for the next lesson. Tot de volgende keer! |
| Jacob:Tot ziens. |
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