Learn how to describe your work and use the Dutch verb which means "to be"
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Intro |
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| Peter: Goedendag, mijn naam is Peter! |
| Judith: Judith here! Upper Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 4 - How Was Your First Day in the Dutch Office? |
| Judith: Hello, and welcome to DutchPOD101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Dutch! |
| Peter: I'm Peter, and thanks again for being here with us for this Upper Beginner S1 lesson. |
| Judith: In this lesson you'll will learn how to talk about appearance in Dutch. |
| Peter: This conversation takes place on the street outside Paul's house. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Paul and Marleen. |
| Peter: The speakers are neighbours, therefore they will be speaking informal Dutch. |
| Judith: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| Dialogue |
| Marleen: Goedenavond, Paul. Hoe was je eerste dag op kantoor? |
| Paul: Het was een interessante dag. |
| Marleen: Was je nerveus? |
| Paul: Ja, ik was erg nerveus, het was mijn eerste dag! |
| Marleen: Hoe was je baas? |
| Paul: Hij was heel aardig. Mijn collega’s waren ook heel vriendelijk. |
| Marleen: Was je baas erg streng? |
| Paul: Nee, hij is een vriendelijke man. Hij is heel modern. |
| Marleen: Modern? |
| Paul: Hij heeft lang blond haar dat hij in een paardenstaart draagt. Mijn collega’s zeggen dat hij bijna elke dag een spijkerbroek draagt. |
| : Mijn collega, met wie ik mijn kantoor deel, is ook heel modern. Hij heeft lang zwart haar en draagt ook een spijkerbroek naar kantoor. |
| Marleen: Dus het was een leuke eerste dag. |
| Paul: Ja, het was een leuke dag! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Marleen: Goedenavond, Paul. Hoe was je eerste dag op kantoor? |
| Paul: Het was een interessante dag. |
| Marleen: Was je nerveus? |
| Paul: Ja, ik was erg nerveus, het was mijn eerste dag! |
| Marleen: Hoe was je baas? |
| Paul: Hij was heel aardig. Mijn collega’s waren ook heel vriendelijk. |
| Marleen: Was je baas erg streng? |
| Paul: Nee, hij is een vriendelijke man. Hij is heel modern. |
| Marleen: Modern? |
| Paul: Hij heeft lang blond haar dat hij in een paardenstaart draagt. Mijn collega’s zeggen dat hij bijna elke dag een spijkerbroek draagt. |
| : Mijn collega, met wie ik mijn kantoor deel, is ook heel modern. Hij heeft lang zwart haar en draagt ook een spijkerbroek naar kantoor. |
| Marleen: Dus het was een leuke eerste dag. |
| Paul: Ja, het was een leuke dag! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Marleen: Goedenavond, Paul. Hoe was je eerste dag op kantoor? |
| Judith: Good evening, Paul. How was the first day at the office? |
| Paul: Het was een interessante dag. |
| Judith: It was an interesting day. |
| Marleen: Was je nerveus? |
| Judith: Were you nervous? |
| Paul: Ja, ik was erg nerveus, het was mijn eerste dag! |
| Judith: Yes, I was very nervous; it was my first day! |
| Marleen: Hoe was je baas? |
| Judith: How was your boss? |
| Paul: Hij was heel aardig. Mijn collega’s waren ook heel vriendelijk. |
| Judith: He was very nice. My colleagues were also very friendly. |
| Marleen: Was je baas erg streng? |
| Judith: Was your boss very strict? |
| Paul: Nee, hij is een vriendelijke man. Hij is heel modern. |
| Judith: No, he is a friendly man. He is very modern. |
| Marleen: Modern? |
| Judith: Modern? |
| Paul: Hij heeft lang blond haar dat hij in een paardenstaart draagt. Mijn collega’s zeggen dat hij bijna elke dag een spijkerbroek draagt. |
| Judith: He has long blond hair that he wears in a ponytail. My colleagues say that he wears jeans almost every day. |
| : Mijn collega, met wie ik mijn kantoor deel, is ook heel modern. Hij heeft lang zwart haar en draagt ook een spijkerbroek naar kantoor. |
| Judith: My colleague who I share my office with is also very modern. He has long black hair and also wears jeans to the office. |
| Marleen: Dus het was een leuke eerste dag. |
| Judith: So it was a nice first day. |
| Paul: Ja, het was een leuke dag! |
| Judith: Yes, it was a nice day! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, maybe it’s time to talk a bit about the dress code at work. Let’s say we have a listener who just got a job with a Dutch company, maybe in Amsterdam. What is he supposed to wear? |
| Peter: First of all I can say congratulations! and when you go to your work be aware that you don’t be to formal. Except if you are in more conservative sector, like banking. Than it’s common to wear a suit. But in the more modern sectors people normally dress very casually, very informal compared to other countries. |
| Judith: How casual? |
| Peter: A general rule is to wear what you would wear to go shopping, not what you would wear to go out clubbing. Of course if depends on the office but normally you don’t wear t-shirts with big slogans or logos, you wear something casual. It’s the same for women though sometimes they may be asked not to wear skirts that are too short. |
| Judith: So I guess jeans and t-shirt are okay as long as it doesn’t have a big logo or a slogan? |
| Peter: Jeans and t-shirts are almost always okay. Very casual, like the Dutch. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Judith: Now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Peter: kantoor [natural native speed] |
| Judith: office |
| Peter: kan-toor [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: kantoor [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: nerveus [natural native speed] |
| Judith: nervous |
| Peter: ner-veus [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: nerveus [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: baas [natural native speed] |
| Judith: boss |
| Peter: baas [slowly] |
| Peter: baas [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: aardig [natural native speed] |
| Judith: nice |
| Peter: aar-dig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: aardig [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: streng [natural native speed] |
| Judith: austere, strict |
| Peter: streng [slowly] |
| Peter: streng [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: modern [natural native speed] |
| Judith: modern |
| Peter: mo-dern [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: modern [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: lang [natural native speed] |
| Judith: long, tall |
| Peter: lang [slowly] |
| Peter: lang [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: blond [natural native speed] |
| Judith: blond |
| Peter: blond [slowly] |
| Peter: blond [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: haar [natural native speed] |
| Judith: hair |
| Peter: haar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: haar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: paardenstaart [natural native speed] |
| Judith: ponytail |
| Peter: paar-den-staart [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: paardenstaart [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: dragen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to wear |
| Peter: dra-gen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: dragen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: delen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to share |
| Peter: de-len [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: delen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: spijkerbroek [natural native speed] |
| Judith: jeans |
| Peter: spij-ker-broek [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: spijkerbroek [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.... |
| 1: "Collega" (colleague) this is the singular form and the plural is normally "collega’s". But in official documents, we also see the formal Latin form "collegae", since collega is a Latin loanword. A true Dutch equivalent would be "vakgenoot", in which vak = job, and genoot = mate. |
| Judith: Okay, I have another question. A word that contains two words ..this“spijkerbroek” does it have anything to do with spikes? |
| Peter: It has to do with the old fashioned way and the traditional way of making jeans with spikes with nails. ’Spijker’ you can translate the best in English as nail. So it’s the “broek” (trousers) that in making are being nailed. |
| Judith: Okay, so that’s the jeans...nice! |
| Peter: But don’t worry! Everybody in the Netherlands understand the word ‘jeans’. |
| Grammar Point |
| Grammar: The focus of this lesson is the past tense of "zijn". |
| Judith: In this lesson we saw some past tense forms of the verb "zijn" (to be). The full forms are |
| 1: ik was (I was) |
| 2: jij was (you were) |
| 3: hij was / zij was / het was (he was, she was, it was) |
| 4: wij waren (we were) |
| 5: jullie waren (you all were) |
| 6: zij waren (they were) |
| Judith: So this actually incredibly easy compared to English where you still have to decide between I was/ You were./ In Dutch the form doesn’t change at all/ It’s always “was” when you are talking about one person and “waren” when you are talking about several people. |
| Peter: Very easy! And to use any of these in a question it’s also easy, just invert the position of verb and pronoun, for example "Was jij?", "Waren jullie?". |
| Judith: And to make a negative sentence, just add "niet", as always. (jij was niet /jullie waren niet) |
Outro |
| Judith: That just about does it for today. |
| Judith: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Peter: It's because they work! |
| Judith: We've taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized with My Wordbank Flashcards! |
| Peter: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears! |
| Judith: It's simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called My Wordbank. |
| Peter: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with Flashcards. |
| Judith: Words in My Wordbank come with audio, so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Peter: While you learn to recognize words by sight! |
| Judith: Go to DutchPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! |
| Judith: See you next week! |
| Peter: (Dutch Goodbye) |
| Sample Sentences |
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