Learn how to express dislikes and complain
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 6 - How Do You Feel About the Dutch Weather? Eric here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express dislikes and complain in Dutch. The conversation takes place in a cafeteria. |
| Jacob: It's between Mark and Tina. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Mark: Wat is het hier altijd donker en koud in de winter. |
| Tina: Ja, dat vind ik ook. |
| Mark: Er moet iets gebeuren aan de verlichting en de verwarming. |
| Tina: Ja, maar daar willen ze geen geld aan uitgeven. |
| Mark: Zo wordt iedereen ziek! Daar hebben we ook niets aan. |
| Tina: Maar 's zomers is het in ieder geval wel lekker. |
| Mark: Ja, dan is de temperatuur wel goed, maar nog steeds te druk. |
| Tina: Ja, ik voel me ook erg opgesloten. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Mark: It's always so dark and cold here in the winter. |
| Tina: Yes, I agree with you. |
| Mark: They should do something about the lighting and the heating. |
| Tina: Yes, but they don't want to spend money on that. |
| Mark: This way everyone will end up sick. That's not going to help us. |
| Tina: But in the summers it’s nice anyway. |
| Mark: Yes, the temperature is okay then, but it's still a crowded place. |
| Tina: Yeah, I feel locked in sometimes. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Jacob, I’ve heard that Dutch people are often very direct. What are your thoughts on this? |
| Jacob: It’s true, so I can’t say no. Some people think that Dutch are direct to the point of being rude, but we don’t find ourselves overly direct, and we usually defend ourselves when we hear that. |
| Eric: There's no harm in being direct. That directness also lends itself to the openness to diversity and willingness to listen to others that Dutch people are known for, right? |
| Jacob: That’s also true, and I think that’s why many people like the Dutch. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: donker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: dark |
| Jacob: donker[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: donker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: koud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: cold |
| Jacob: koud[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: koud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: gebeuren [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to happen |
| Jacob: gebeuren[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: gebeuren [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: vinden [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to find, to agree |
| Jacob: vinden[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vinden [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: uitgeven [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to spend |
| Jacob: uitgeven[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: uitgeven [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: ziek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sick, ill |
| Jacob: ziek[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: ziek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: lekker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: tasty, nice, delicious |
| Jacob: lekker[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: lekker [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: geval [natural native speed] |
| Eric: case |
| Jacob: geval[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: geval [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: opsluiten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to lock up, to lock in |
| Jacob: opsluiten[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: opsluiten [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Jacob: druk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: busy, crowded |
| Jacob: druk[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: druk [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: Ja, dat vind ik ook. |
| Eric: “Yes, I think so too.” |
| Jacob: Ja, means “yes,” dat means “that,” vind ik means “I think so” and ook means “too.” So the literal translation is “Yes, that I think so too.” |
| Eric: You can use this phrase to express agreement with what somebody else has just said. |
| Jacob: In formal situations, you can try a different phrase. For example, Ja, dat ben ik volledig met u eens. |
| Eric: “Oh yes, I'm in complete agreement with you.” |
| Jacob: For example, when your friend says Dat Nederlandse bier is lekker! |
| Eric: Which means “That Dutch beer is nice!” |
| Jacob: You can say.. Ja dat vind ik ook. |
| Eric: “Yes, I think so too.” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Geld uitgeven. |
| Eric: “to spend money.” |
| Jacob: Geld uitgeven is the opposite of Geld sparen which means “to save money.” These are both idiomatic expressions. |
| Eric: For example, how can we say.. “Did you spend a lot of money? |
| Jacob: In Dutch, you can say.. Hebt, u veel geld uitgegeven? |
| Eric: What about.. “Did you manage to save anything?” |
| Jacob: Hebt u nog iets kunnen sparen? |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson you’ll learn how to complain and express dislikes. In our dialogue Mark says.. |
| Jacob: Wat is het hier altijd koud en donker. |
| Eric: which means “It’s always so dark and cold here.” |
| Jacob: Right. He is complaining about the fact that it is cold and dark, but also expressing his opinion that it’s always dark and cold. |
| Eric: In this sentence, we have the interrogative pronoun. |
| Jacob: Right. It starts with the word wat. This is used with the pronoun het, meaning “it.” |
| Eric: These two words form a sort of surrogate subject for this sentence. |
| Jacob: By using wat and it together, you can emphasize the topic, which in this sentence is his unhappiness with the situation. Once again, Wat is het hier altijd koud en donker. |
| Eric: “It’s always so cold and dark here” is the best translation. |
| Jacob: A less emphatic way to say the same thing would be Het is koud en donker. By not using wat at the beginning, we make it a simple statement of fact. |
| Eric: Okay. What if I want to express disapproval? Do you have any useful phrases? |
| Jacob: Here’s a useful and typical Dutch phrase- Daar hebben we ook niets aan. |
| Eric: “That’s not going to help us.” |
| Jacob: You can also say...Daar heb ik niets aan. |
| Eric: “That’s not going to help me.” or “That’s not going to do me any good.” This is a strong and very direct way to state that you disapprove. But in formal situations we’d want to be less direct and use a different phrase, right? |
| Jacob: Yes. In a formal situation you can politely express your disapproval by saying... Ik ben het er niet helemaal mee eens. |
| Eric: Which means “I’m not completely in agreement.” |
Outro |
| Eric: 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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