Learn how to use prepositions of place using an informal conversation as an example
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Intro |
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| Peter: Goedendag mijn naam is Peter! |
| Judith: Judith here! Upper Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 2 - Describing Your Dutch House |
| Peter: Hello everyone! I'm Peter, and welcome to DutchPOD101.com. |
| Judith: With us, you'll learn to speak Dutch with fun and effective lessons. |
| Peter: We also provide you with cultural insights... |
| Judith: ...and tips you won't find in a textbook. |
| Judith: In this lesson you'll will learn how to describe your house in Dutch. |
| Peter: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Paul, an American expat living in the Netherlands, and his mother. |
| Peter: The speakers are family, therefore they will be speaking informal Dutch. |
| Judith: Now let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Paul: Ja, mama. Ik huur een mooi huis. |
| : Er zijn twee kamers, een huiskamer en een slaapkamer. |
| : Er is ook een badkamer en een keuken. |
| Moeder: Is er een eetkamer? |
| Paul: Nee, ik heb geen eetkamer. |
| Moeder: Is de huiskamer groot? |
| Paul: De huiskamer heeft twee grote ramen. Er hangen mooie gordijnen voor de ramen. De gordijnen zijn wit en grijs. |
| : Op de vensterbank staan bloemen. Tussen de ramen aan de muur hangt een foto van oma. |
| : Mijn bureau staat bij het raam. Er hangt een lamp boven mijn bureau. |
| Moeder: En... |
| Paul: Mama, ik moet boodschappen doen. Ik bel je straks weer op. |
| Moeder: Goed, tot straks. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Paul: Ja, mama. Ik huur een mooi huis. |
| : Er zijn twee kamers, een huiskamer en een slaapkamer. |
| : Er is ook een badkamer en een keuken. |
| Moeder: Is er een eetkamer? |
| Paul: Nee, ik heb geen eetkamer. |
| Moeder: Is de huiskamer groot? |
| Paul: De huiskamer heeft twee grote ramen. Er hangen mooie gordijnen voor de ramen. De gordijnen zijn wit en grijs. |
| : Op de vensterbank staan bloemen. Tussen de ramen aan de muur hangt een foto van oma. |
| : Mijn bureau staat bij het raam. Er hangt een lamp boven mijn bureau. |
| Moeder: En... |
| Paul: Mama, ik moet boodschappen doen. Ik bel je straks weer op. |
| Moeder: Goed, tot straks. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Paul: Ja, mama. Ik huur een mooi huis. |
| Judith: Yes, mom. I'm renting a beautiful house. |
| : Er zijn twee kamers, een huiskamer en een slaapkamer. |
| Judith: There are two rooms, a living room and a bedroom. |
| : Er is ook een badkamer en een keuken. |
| Judith: There is also a bathroom and a kitchen. |
| Moeder: Is er een eetkamer? |
| Judith: Is there a dining room? |
| Paul: Nee, ik heb geen eetkamer. |
| Judith: No, I have no dining room. |
| Moeder: Is de huiskamer groot? |
| Judith: Is the living room big? |
| Paul: De huiskamer heeft twee grote ramen. Er hangen mooie gordijnen voor de ramen. De gordijnen zijn wit en grijs. |
| Judith: The living room has two big windows. There are beautiful curtains hanging on the windows. The curtains are white and gray. |
| : Op de vensterbank staan bloemen. Tussen de ramen aan de muur hangt een foto van oma. |
| Judith: On the windowsill there are flowers. Between the windows on the wall there's a photo of grandma. |
| : Mijn bureau staat bij het raam. Er hangt een lamp boven mijn bureau. |
| Judith: My desk is by the window. There's a lamp hanging over my desk. |
| Moeder: En... |
| Judith: And... |
| Paul: Mama, ik moet boodschappen doen. Ik bel je straks weer op. |
| Judith: Mom, I have to go grocery shopping. I'll call you right back. |
| Moeder: Goed, tot straks. |
| Judith: Good, talk to you soon. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, one thing I always wondered.. I was in the Netherlands and I was walking around town in the evening and it seemed like all the curtains were open. Why is that? Wouldn’t you want people to not be able to look in and see what you are doing? |
| Peter: That’s an interesting question! Lots of explanations for of course but the most common explanation is that in the past when the Calvinists ruled, it was very important to show the vicar and to show your neighbours that you didn’t have anything to hide. That you were a good person and in the end went to heaven. |
| Judith: Calvinists...those are the ones that believed in frugal and austere living , isn’t it? |
| Peter: Yes. And what better way to show the world that you lived by the rules than to let people look directly into your home. That’s your question. |
| Judith: But now I don’t think there are so many religious Dutch people anymore are there? |
| Peter: Netherlands is a country that is not so religious. Lots of people officially say that they are religious but they never go to church or don’t do anything active on practicing their religion. What they still do how ever the people who believe in God, or the people who don’t..they all leave the curtains open at night. Though it is interesting to walk through a Dutch street and see some curtains closed. Than you know...AH! there are foreigners living here. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Judith: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Peter: huiskamer [natural native speed] |
| Judith: living room |
| Peter: huis-ka-mer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: huiskamer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: slaapkamer [natural native speed] |
| Judith: bedroom |
| Peter: slaap-ka-mer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: slaapkamer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: badkamer [natural native speed] |
| Judith: bathroom |
| Peter: bad-ka-mer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: badkamer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: keuken [natural native speed] |
| Judith: kitchen |
| Peter: keu-ken [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: keuken [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: eetkamer [natural native speed] |
| Judith: dining room |
| Peter: eet-ka-mer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: eetkamer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: groot [natural native speed] |
| Judith: big, large |
| Peter: groot [slowly] |
| Peter: groot [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: raam [natural native speed] |
| Judith: window |
| Peter: raam [slowly] |
| Peter: raam [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: hangen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to hang |
| Peter: hang-en [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: hangen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: gordijn [natural native speed] |
| Judith: curtain |
| Peter: gor-dijn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: gordijn [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: vensterbank [natural native speed] |
| Judith: windowsill |
| Peter: ven-ster-bank [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: vensterbank [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: tussen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: among, between |
| Peter: tus-sen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: tussen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: bureau [natural native speed] |
| Judith: desk |
| Peter: bu-reau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: bureau [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: lamp [natural native speed] |
| Judith: lamp |
| Peter: lamp [slowly] |
| Peter: lamp [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: boven [natural native speed] |
| Judith: above |
| Peter: bo-ven [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: boven [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Peter: The first word we’ll look at is.... "Kamer" |
| Judith: This is the word for room. The rooms of a house always end in -kamer. |
| Peter: For example slaapkamer (bedroom) , badkamer (bathroom), huiskamer (livingroom) |
| Judith: What would you call a children's room? |
| Peter: A children’s room is a ‘kinderkamer’ (child =kind , room = kamer) - kinderkamer. |
| Judith: And a room in the attic?. |
| Peter: A room in the attic is ‘zolderkamer’. (attic = zolder, room =kamer) - zolderkamer. |
| The plural of "raam" is "ramen". Watch out when you write this. In the singular there are two A's but in the plural only one. This is the rule for open and closed syllables that we discussed in the Absolute Beginner Series. |
| Judith: When the syllable is open, as in "ra-men", the vowel is automatically long, so we don't need to write it twice. When the syllable is closed, that is if it ends in a consonant like "raam", then the vowel is short by default and we have to write it double in order to make it long. |
| Peter: So remember that two times an ‘AA’ is a long sound - raam. And one time is a short sound and plural - ramen. |
| Grammar Point |
| Judith: The focus of this lesson are the prepositions of place. This is the largest group of prepositions and it is not always easy to understand because some of them don’t translate very well, whereas others can be translated literally. |
| Peter: For example, the preposition "achter" translates to "behind", but the prepositions "op" and "bij" have multiple meanings. |
| Peter: In the text we have "bij het raam", which means by or close to the window. But "Bij" can used otherwise as well. For example in a sentence like "ik werk bij een Amerikaans bedrijf" (I work at an American company), in this case it means "at". And in the sentence "ik woon bij mijn moeder" (I live with my mother), "bij" translates to "with”.As for “op”, in the text it is used in "op de vensterbank", which means literally ON the windowsill. But in the sentence "hij is op school", "op" means "at" (he is at school). Or "hij woont op kamers" - This an expression meaning that he lives on his own. So "op" can mean "at" or "on". |
Outro |
| Judith: That just about does it for today. |
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| Peter: Get these easy instructions at Dutch.com/Dutch-phrases |
| Judith: See you next week! |
| Peter: Tot volgende week, doei! |
| Sample Sentences |
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