Learn how to talk about being able to do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hi everyone, Gabriella here! Welcome to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 1, Lesson 4 - What Language do Animals Speak in the Netherlands? |
| Jacob: HALLO! Ik ben Jacob. I’m Jacob. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about being able to do something. |
| Gabriella: The conversation takes place at a children’s farm. It’s between Tim, who’s 4 years old, and his mother Ina. |
| Jacob: They will use informal Dutch. |
| Gabriella: Okay. Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ina: Kijk Tim, kun je die koe daar zien? |
| Tim: Ja! |
| Ina: Wat zegt een koe? |
| Tim: Boe! Mag ik de koe aaien? |
| Ina: Nee, Tim, dat kan gevaarlijk zijn. Laten we naar de geiten gaan. |
| Tim: Ik wil de kippen zien, mam! |
| Ina: Daar zijn de kippen. Ik kan de haan al horen kraaien. Kan jij het horen Tim? Wat zegt de haan? |
| Tim: Kukeleku! |
| Gabriella: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ina: Kijk Tim, kun je die koe daar zien? |
| Tim: Ja! |
| Ina: Wat zegt een koe? |
| Tim: Boe! Mag ik de koe aaien? |
| Ina: Nee, Tim, dat kan gevaarlijk zijn. Laten we naar de geiten gaan. |
| Tim: Ik wil de kippen zien, mam! |
| Ina: Daar zijn de kippen. Ik kan de haan al horen kraaien. Kan jij het horen Tim? Wat zegt de haan? |
| Tim: Kukeleku! |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Ina: Kijk Tim, kun je die koe daar zien? |
| Gabriella: Look, Tim, can you see that cow over there? |
| Tim: Ja! |
| Gabriella: Yes! |
| Ina: Wat zegt een koe? |
| Gabriella: What does a cow say? |
| Tim: Boe! Mag ik de koe aaien? |
| Gabriella: Moo! Can I pet the cow? |
| Ina: Nee, Tim, dat kan gevaarlijk zijn. Laten we naar de geiten gaan. |
| Gabriella: No, Tim, that could be dangerous. Let's go to the goats. |
| Tim: Ik wil de kippen zien, mam! |
| Gabriella: I want to see the chickens, Mommy! |
| Ina: Daar zijn de kippen. Ik kan de haan al horen kraaien. Kan jij het horen Tim? Wat zegt de haan? |
| Gabriella: The chickens are over there. I can hear the rooster crowing. Can you hear it, Tim? What does the rooster say? |
| Tim: Kukeleku! |
| Gabriella: Cock-a-doodle-doo! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: Listeners, depending on where you come from, you may be surprised about the cow ‘saying’ boe... instead of moo, as they do in English-speaking countries... |
| Jacob: ...or that the Dutch rooster goes ‘kukeleku’.... instead of cock-a-doodle-doo’. |
| Gabriella: Not just people speak different languages, animals do as well! |
| Jacob: So... when you’re visiting the Netherlands, please make sure that your ‘animal talk’ is up-to-date! |
| Gabriella: It’s not only surprising to see the difference in animal dialects, but often the verbs describing the sound that the animals make, is referring to the noise they make! |
| Jacob: Can you give an example? |
| Gabriella: Of course... in the Netherlands, pigs go ‘knor knor’, while they ‘say’ oink oink in England, and groin groin in France. |
| Jacob: Aha, so Dutch pigs go ‘knor knor’... |
| Gabriella: ...and the verb describing the sound they make, is ‘knorren’. |
| Jacob: So “the pig oinks” in English, but ‘het varken knort’ in Dutch! |
| Gabriella: Exactly! |
| Jacob: Here’s the last one - what does a frog ‘say’ in the Netherlands? |
| Gabriella: ...and no, it’s not - ribbit... |
| Jacob: A Dutch frog says ‘kwak kwak’... hence the verb ‘kwaken’. |
| Gabriella: Okay, now on to the serious part, the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Jacob: koe [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: cow |
| Jacob: koe [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: koe [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: aaien [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to pet, to caress |
| Jacob: aaien [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: aaien [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: gevaarlijk [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: dangerous |
| Jacob: gevaarlijk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: gevaarlijk [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: geit [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: goat |
| Jacob: geit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: geit [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: kip [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: chicken |
| Jacob: kip [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: kip [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: mam [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Mom, Mommy |
| Jacob: mam [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: mam [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: haan [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: rooster |
| Jacob: haan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: haan [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: kraaien [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to crow |
| Jacob: kraaien [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: kraaien [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: horen [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to hear |
| Jacob: horen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: horen [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: zeggen [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to say |
| Jacob: zeggen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zeggen [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jacob: Tim is addressing his mother as ‘mam’. |
| Gabriella: “Mother” is translated as ‘moeder’ in Dutch, but the colloquial expressions are ‘ma’, ‘mama’ and ‘mam’. |
| Jacob: These are mostly used to address her directly... if you’re talking about a mother, we usually use ‘moeder’. |
| Gabriella: And ‘mam’ is not only used by small children... |
| Jacob: ...even my mother addresses my 90-year old grandmother as ‘mam’. |
| Gabriella: Let’s have a closer look at the verb ‘horen’. Ina says - ‘ik kan de haan horen kraaien’... |
| Jacob: …”she can hear the rooster crowing.” |
| Gabriella: Listeners, do you know the difference between ‘horen’ and ‘luisteren’, in English - “to hear” and “to listen”? |
| Jacob: ‘Horen’ is listening unintentionally, it’s a sound or noise you cannot control. |
| Gabriella: ‘Luisteren’ is listening with the intention of hearing something. It’s the same in English - you listen to the music, intentionally, but you hear a noise outside unintentionally. |
| Jacob: Exactly. ‘je luistert naar muziek’ and ‘je hoort een geluid buiten’. |
| Gabriella: Okay, now you know the difference between horen and luisteren... |
| Jacob: … so we’ll move on to the grammar! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the auxiliairy verb ‘kunnen’. |
| Jacob: “Can”, or “could”, or “to be able to” in English. |
| Gabriella: I’m sure you’ve seen ‘kunnen’ in previous lessons, but as an auxiliary verb, it has many meanings... |
| Jacob: It expresses ability, permission and possibility, and it’s used for requests. So it’s used a lot, and you can find 4 example sentences using this verb in the conversation. |
| Gabriella: As you might expect, the conjugation is irregular... |
| Jacob: So let’s start with the conjugation... |
| Gabriella: Ik kan “I can” , jij kan “you can”, hij or zij kan... “he or she can” |
| Jacob: and plural - wij kunnen “we can”, jullie kunnen ”you - plural - can” and zij kunnen “they can”. |
| Gabriella: Not so difficult, right? |
| Jacob: Yes, but the second person singular has another correct form... it’s not only jij kan... |
| Gabriella: but also, jij kunt. |
| Jacob: Both are correct, and equally common. |
| Gabriella: But, beware if you use jij kunt as a question. When inverted, it becomes kun jij, without the t. |
| Jacob: For example - ‘kun jij Nederlands spreken’? - “Can you speak Dutch?” |
| Gabriella: Okay, so once again the conjugation - ik kan, jij kan or jij kunt, hij or zij kan, wij kunnen, jullie kunnen, zij kunnen. |
| Jacob: On to the use of the verb... Gabriella: , please give an example of the verb expressing ability. |
| Gabriella: “He can speak 3 languages”, is - ‘hij kan 3 talen spreken’. |
| Jacob: And a sentence expressing permission? |
| Gabriella: “Can I borrow your bike?” is ‘kan ik jouw fiets lenen?’ |
| Jacob: And one sentence expressing possibility...? |
| Gabriella: ‘You can go to the beach next week’, is ‘je kan naar het strand gaan volgende week’. |
| Jacob: Thanks! We also explained that the verb ‘kunnen’ is used for requests. Can you give one last example? |
| Gabriella: Of course! ‘Can you help me’, is ‘Kun je mij helpen?’ in Dutch. And if it’s a more formal request, you can say - Zou u mij kunnen helpen?’ |
| Jacob: ...which is similar to “Could you please help me?” |
| Gabriella: It has a variety of meanings... if you’d like to see these sample sentences again, please have a look at the lesson notes! |
| Jacob: One last thing. As in English, “can” and “may” are often used interchangeably. It’s the same in Dutch. |
| Gabriella: So someone might ask you “Can I borrow your bike?”, or “May I borrow your bike?”. |
| Jacob: In Dutch, ‘Kan ik je fiets lenen?’ or ‘Mag ik je fiets lenen?’ |
| Gabriella: For the moment, just remember that the two verbs ‘kunnen’ and ‘mogen’ are often used interchangeably. We’ll come back to the verb ‘mogen’ later. |
Outro |
| Jacob: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and see you next time! |
| Gabriella: Tot ziens! |
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