conlanger bboard

[Glossotechnites]

Since the last Dutch lessons seemed a bit messy to me, I decided to start new ones. If you're visiting this page and wondering why you should learn Dutch at all, watch here and
read here. Besides that, Dutch pronunciation and colloquial Dutch are a must for the language lovers who like a challenge. For conlanging interests Dutch is an easy way to acquire knowledge of how Germanic languages work and you can easily catch up with German afterwards.

I'm going to university after two weeks and I don't know what to expect (Comparative Linguistics, to be exact); I'll probably get very busy, but I hope to find time to continue these lessons as long as anything more important doesn't get in between. I hope you'll have just as much fun reading and studying the lessons as I had while making them. As for FreeZzze and other speakers of Dutch, feel free to add anything you think is important. So here we go.
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[Glossotechnites]

Lesson One to Three - Les Eén t/m Drie(Updated)
Phonology and orthography

Introductory remarks
The Dutch pronunciation is very hard to master. The only foreigners I have ever heard it pronounce close to properly were French. I think this is because French and Dutch use their tongue similarly. Anyway, as you hopefully know, Dutch is mostly spoken in both the Netherlands (or Holland) and Belgium (there are, of course, old-colonies that still have Dutch as official language, but I will leave them out to avoid complexity). In both nations (apart from many dialects) they speak a variant of Dutch that can be compared to British and American English. In Holland they speak a 'hard variant' known as Hollands 'High Dutch', which I will abbreviate to 'H'. In Belgium (Flanders) they speak a 'soft variant' known as, of course, Vlaams 'Flemish', which I will abbreviate to 'F'. Confusingly the speakers of H usually consider their language the standard form of the Dutch language, which is not entirely correct. As both variants differ to a certain extent in use of words and expressions, Standard Educated Dutch (ABN - Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands) can be considered a compromise between the two variants, a form that covers the vocabulary and expressions that are shared by both, but is actually not a spoken language. This does not apply, however, to the H and F pronunciation. Therefore I'll try to indicate both H and F phonemes, but I advice you to study only the H pronunciation, because I might not always be right about F (after all, I'm not Flemish). In examples and in the next lessons I will stick largely to H and ABN, and might only often mention something about F, if necessary.
The phonetic transcription of sounds I use is X-SAMPA.

1. Phonology

Consonant inventory for H
/phonemes/ <letters>
Stops: /p b t d k/ <p b t d k>; the glottal stop /?/ occurs between non-diphthong vowel clusters; all stops are always unaspirated
Nasals: /m n N/ <m n ng>
Fricatives: /f f* s z h_v R/ <f v s z h r>, /X/ <g ch>
Approximants: /P l j/ <w l j>
Multiple articulations: /s_j n_j t_j/ <sj/ch** nj tj>
*<v> is actually /v_0/ or /f_v/
** in loanwords only, e.g. China /"s_ji.na/

Some additional notes: <x> is /ks/; <sch> is pronounced /sX/ root word intially and elsewhere /s/; <c> is /s/ and <qu> is /k/ before front vowels, and <c> is /k/ and <qu> is /kP/ before back vowels.

Allophony
- auslaut: voiced stops (and fricatives) are devoiced at the end of a syllable! <d b> /d b/ become /t p/ syllable finally; and the fricatives are also devoiced, but this is indicated in spelling: <z v> /z v_0/ become <s f> /s f/.
- allophone of <w> is /u/ after vowels
- allophones of <t> are /ts/ in <tsie>, /ts_j/ in <tsio> and /s/ in <ctie>
- <ci> is /s_j/ before vowels
- /n/ becomes /N/ before velar stops
- voiceless fricatives may be voiced or slightly voiced intervocally and after nasals
- <l> is actually slightly velarized, and /5/ in the syllable end
- some dialects distinguish <g> from <ch> by pronouncing them /G/ and /x/.
- in <schr> the /X/ of /sX/ may be dropped and assimilates with /R/, becoming /sR/
- <r> /R/ can occur as /R_G R_G_o R\_G r r\_G/
- variants of /s_j/ are /S/ and /s\/
Other sounds such as /S Z tS/ts_j dZ/dz_j/ may occur in loanwords.

Consonant inventory for F (may be incorrect)
Stops: /p b t d k/ <p b t d k> the glottal stop /?/ occurs between non-diphthong vowel clusters; all stops are always unaspirated
Nasals: /m n N/ <m n ng>
Fricatives: /f v* s z j\ x h_v/ <f v s z g ch h>
Approximants: /B l j/ <w l j>
Trills: <r> /r/
Multiple articulations: /n_j t_j/ <nj tj>
*<v> is actually /v_0/, but more voiced than H
** in loanwords only, e.g. China /"s_ji.na/

Some additional notes: <x> is /ks/; <sch> is pronounced /sx/ root word intially and elsewhere /s/; <c> is /s/ and <qu> is /k/ before front vowels, and <c> is /k/ and <qu> is /kB/ before back vowels.

Allophony
- auslaut: voiced stops (and fricatives) are devoiced at the end of a syllable! <d b> /d b/ become /t p/ syllable finally; I believe <g> /j\/ also devoices to /C/; and the fricatives are also devoiced, but this is indicated in spelling: <z v> /z v_0/ become <s f> /s f/.
- allophone of <w> is /u/ after vowels
- somehow all sibilants are pronounced sharper and more to the front of the mouth (but not dental)
- /n/ becomes /N/ before velar stops
- voiceless fricatives may be voiced or slightly voiced intervocally and after nasals
- - <l> is only slightly velarized at the syllable end
- variants of /s_j/ are /S/ and /s\/
Other sounds such as /S Z tS/ts_j dZ/dz_j/ may occur in loanwords.


Degemination
Two equal adjacent consonants take the value of one consonant.
e.g. achterruit "back window" /"AXt@.%R&yt/
fietssleutel "bicycle key" /"fit.%sl9.t@l/

Voice assimilation
In complex words or compounds, Dutch consonants assimilate in voice (this involves both affixial and word compounding):
- Fricative Assimilation: a fricative takes the voice of the preceding fricative or plosive consonant (this actually only significant for <z> /z/ -> /s/, because <v> /f_v/ is almost inaudibly voiced)
e.g. broek /bRuk]/ + zak /zAk / = broekzak "trousers pocket" /"bRuk.sAk/
rond /ROnt/ + vaart /v_0a:Rt/ = rondvaart "cruise" /"Ront.fa:Rt/
waak /Pak/ + -zaam /zam/ = waakzaam "watchful" /"Pak.sam/
- Plosive Assimilation: a fricative or plosive takes the voice of the following plosive
e.g. les /lEs/ + boek /buk/ = lesboek "exercise book" /"lez.buk/
rijk /r}ik/ + -dom /dOm / = rijkdom "wealth" /"r{ig.dOm/
This process of assimilation may also occur within sentences in very colloquial speech, e.g. Ik zie hem niet "I don't see him" /"ksi.m_=.%ni/

Overview of the vowels
The Dutch cardinal vowels:

<aa> is always /a/
<oo> is /o/, but /O/ before liquids (= /R/ and /l/)
<oe> is always /u/
<ee> is /e/, but /I/ before liquids
<ie> is always /i/
<uu> is always /y/
<eu> is /9/, but /2/ before liquids

<a> in an open syllable /a/, and in a closed syllable /A/
<o> open syllable /o/, but /O/ before /R/, and closed syllable /O/
<e> open syllable /e/, but /I/ before /R/, and closed syllable /E/
<i> open syllable /i/, closed syllable /I/
<u> open syllable /y/, closed syllable /Y/

<e> and sometimes <i> are pronounced /@/ when unstressed

Some additional notes: /i/, /I/, /y/ and /Y/ are a bit lax, lowered and centralised, /a/ and /A/ are centralised.

Allophony
- /I/, /O/ and /2/ are allophones of /e/, /o/ and /9/ in closed syllables before a liquid (/R/ or /l/), and also in open syllables only before /R/
- /e o 9/ are generally realised as the offglides /ei ou 9y/.

Length
The Dutch vowels are always short, except when they precede /R/, examples:
boot "boat" /bot/ vs. boor "drill" /bO:R/
holen "holes" /ho.l@n/ vs. horen "to hear" /hO:.R@n/

Diphthongs
offglides: <aai au auw ou ei ij euw ieuw ooi ui uw> /ai au au au {i {i eu iu oi &y yu/
The onglides are usually /i/ plus another vowel, e.g. <ia> /ia/ etc.

2.Stress in simple words

The trochaic stress system
In general, the Dutch language has a trochaic stress system. The primary stress (the most forcefully and longest pronounced syllable) is on the penultimate syllable and the secondary stress (a semi-strong syllable, weaker than the primary) is on every even syllable left from it. The stress distribution starts from the right and the first left syllable it comes across usually receives the primary stress, and the following left syllables receive a secondary stress.
Example (Vl = left syllable, Vr = right syllable):
macaroni
ma-ca-ro-ni
Vl-Vr-Vl-Vr <-- stress distribution starting from the right
%V1-Vr-"Vl-Vr (% = secondary, " = primary stress)
[%ma.ca."ro.ni], since [ro] is the first left syllable from the right (the penultimate to be exact).

Phonological constraints
- The schwa [@] is never stressed.
- A word can never have more than one syllable with primary stress.
- A word may have more than one syllable with secondary stress.
- Only one of two adjacent syllables may have a secondary or primary stress.
- Left syllables (Vl) are considered to always have a secondary stress.
- The primary stress can only occur on a left syllable (Vl).

Regular irregularities
There are, however, irregularities that deviate from the trochaic system, but they do follow the constraints. Fortunately these irregularities are again regular to a certain extent. You can even say that the Dutch stress system is completely regular (for simple words that is). You see, some syllables so-called "carry more weight" than others and may be stress-sensitive (i.e. attracting stress) or extrametrical (i.e. out of beat/rhythm). There is distinction in weight between heavy and superheavy.

Heavy syllables are:
(V = vowel, C = consonant)
- '…C', i.e. a closed syllable (ending in one consonant)
- an open syllable ('…V') may or may not be heavy
Superheavy syllables are:
- '…VCC', i.e. a closed syllable (ending in two consonants)
- '…VVC', i.e. a closed syllable with a written doubled vowel or a diphthong (that includes a semi-vowel)
- an open syllable ('…V') may or may not be superheavy

Both heavy and superheavy syllables are considered to be left syllables (Vl) and are therefore more likely to receive the stress in stress distribution. However, there is more to it. Heavy syllables (or left syllables) that occur at the end of the word are extrametrical. Extrametrical syllables cannot take the primary stress, but may take secondary stress. On the other hand superheavy syllables are never extrametrical and therefore take the primary stress.
Examples (é = primary stress, è = secondary):
open syllables (trochaic pattern): júli "july" ["jy.li], pijáma "pyjama" [pi."ja.ma], màcaróni [%ma.ca."ro.ni] etc.
extrametrical (or heavy) syllables: róbot ["ro.bot], Áfrikà "Africa" ["a.fRi.%ka], cámerà ["ka.mI.%Ra],
superheavy syllables: valléi "valley" [va."l{i], chòcolá "chocolate" [%So.co."la], àbrikóos "apricot" [%a.bri."kos], kàrikatúur "caricature" [%kA.Ri.ka."tuR] etc.

3. Stress in compounds

Origin defines system
What I explained above only applies to simple words (and some compounds). Compounds may deviate from these rules. It is too complex to go fully into detail about this. What I can tell you is that compounds with bound affixes of Latin or French origin (ab-, re-, -iteit, -aal) follow the same rules as simple words.
Compounds composed of bound affixes of Germanic origin (on-, -heid, -zaam) or words follow a different set of rules, e.g. vlíegtuig "airplane", vríjheid "freedom", ráadplegen "to consult", léesbaar "readable", wáakzaam "watchful", geslápen "slept", ontdékken "to discover" etc. Note that the second member of the compound may have a secondary stress. This already violates one of the phonological constraints I mentioned above.

4. Spelling

The Alphabet
A /a/ B /be/ C /se/ D /de/ E /e/ F /Ef/ G /Xe/ H /ha/ I /i/ J /je/ K /ka/ L /El/ M /Em/ N /En/ O /o/ P /pe/ Q /ky/ R /ER Er/ S /Es/ T /te/ U /y/ V /ve/ W /Pe/ X /Iks/ Y /{i Ei/ or i-grec /i."gREk/ or Griekse ij "Greek ij" /"Xrik.s@ "{i/ Z /zEt/

IJ /{i Ei/ lange ij "long ij" /"lA.N@ {i/ (called like this to distinguish it from <ei>, korte ei "short ei") This letter is not considered part of the Dutch alphabet, but is capitalized, if required, e.g. IJsland "Iceland".

Diacritics
Vowels with diacritics or accents are mainly used in loanwords. In that case they have the same phonetic value as in the word's original language, e.g. decolleté. There are, however, some accents that have no foreign origin, but a specific (phonetic) function.

The acute accent (é), for example, is used on the stressed vowel to emphasise a word in a phrase, e.g. Júlie zijn degene die weg moeten gaan! "You are the ones that should leave!" It is also used in some interjections, e.g. leuk, hè? /hE/ "fun, isn't it?"– Hé, kom eens hier! /he/ "hey you, come here!"). Also the word een "one" is accented één /en/to distinguish it from the indefinite article een /@n/ "a, an".

The dieresis (ë) is used in vowel clusters to indicate that the vowel is pronounced separately, e.g. België "Belgium" /"bEl.Xi@/ instead of *Belgie /"bEl.Xi/

Vowels
The vowels are not only distinguished in pronunciation, but also in writing. This distinction is also of semantic significance, so each vowels should be pronounced the way they are supposed to or people might not understand what you are saying. But don't worry about that, it is quite easy to see whether the vowel is pronounced one way or the other by the way the word is written.

Doubled vowels
As we've seen before, the vowels /a o e y/ are doubled in writing <aa oo ee uu> and /i/ becomes <ie>, when they occur in a closed syllable. Learn this by heart, because it is also important for verb conjugation and the pluralizing of nouns. In addition, there is a general rule that should be taken into account as well. The combination V-V-C-V is not allowed. Thus if these vowels occur in an open syllable, they may not be doubled (with only one exception: tweede "second").

Single vowels
Single vowels <a o e i u> can be pronounced in respectively two different ways: either like the doubled vowels or /A O E I Y/. You see, the latter vowels are never doubled: a single vowel in a closed syllable is always one of these /A O E I Y/. But how about open syllables? Well, remember that with doubled vowels the V-V-C-V combination was not allowed, so these vowels are written as V-C-V in open syllables. Therefore, in order to indicate the distinction in vowel quality something has to be done to the following consonant and namely by doubling it (V-C-C-V). So in open syllables single vowels are pronounced /A O E I Y/ when they are followed by a doubled consonants in writing, but /a o e i y/ when followed by a single consonant. In closed syllables the pronunciation of the single vowels is always /A O E I Y/.

Voicing of fricatives
The fricatives <f> <v> <s> and <z> are (usually) written according to their pronunciation. As you hopefully remember from what I wrote before, intervocalic <f> and <s> and/or proceeded by /n/ may be voiced in pronunciation, and thus (for the most) also in spelling. Thus V-f-V and V-s-V/ns-V combinations become written and pronounced as V-v-V and V-z-V/nz-V, including, according the Auslaut-rule, the other way around when they are syllable finals: from V-v and V-z/nz to V-f and V-s/ns. There are some, though few, exceptions to this rule, but I will indicate that if necessary.

These three spelling rules above are best illustrated in the pluralizing of nouns. Basically, most nouns are pluralized by adding the suffix -en to the singular form. The following examples will indicate how these phonetic rules are brought into effect (Note the semantic difference, i.e. the difference in meaning between the vowels):
maan "moon" + -en = manen "moons", not *maanen, because V-V-C-V is not allowed!
boom "tree" + -en = bomen "trees", not *boomen, idem.
man "man" + -en = mannen "men", not *manen, because the vowel is /A/, not /a/ and therefore the consonant is doubled.
bom "bomb" + -en = bommen "bombs", not **bomen, idem.
huis "house" + -en = huizen "houses", not **huisen, because intervocalic <s> is also voiced in spelling.
mes "knife" + -en = messen"knives", not **mezzen, because the consonant <s> is doubled (because the <e> is /E/) and is therefore not intervocalic either.
lens "lens" + -en = lenzen "lenses", not **lensen, because (in this case) the <s> follwed by the nasal <n> is also voiced in spelling.
slaaf "slave" + -en = slaven "slaves", not **slaafen or **slaaven, idem.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercises:

A. Transcribe the underlined vowel in the following words into X-SAMPA.

staan "to stand"
kind "child"
soort "sort"
leven "life"
spel "game"
vuur "fire"
spelen "to play"
man "man"
sport "sport"
veel "much, many"

B. Indicate the stress in the following (simple) words. (Let your native language's or the English stress system not fool you).

advocaat "lawyer, advocate"
pasta
triomf "triumph"
spaghetti
agenda "diary"
bibliotheek "library"
chaos
september
kilo
bioscoop "cinema"

C. Pluralize the following nouns by adding the suffix -en and adopt the spelling rules, if necessary (HINT: It is easier to first tell for yourself what the vowel quality is and then form the plural):

raam "window"
kaas "cheese"
ram "ram"
steen "stone"
raaf "raven"
kaars "candle" (think carefully about this one)
fles "bottle"
landschap "landscape"
doos "box"
plant "plant"

D. Do the exact opposite for the following nouns (i.e. remove the plural suffix -en) and adopt the spelling rules, if necessary (HINT: It is easier to first tell for yourself what the vowel quality is and then form the plural):

pakken "packs"
neven "(male) cousins, nephews"
namen "names"
fietsen "bikes"
rugzakken "back packs"
dijken "dykes"
tassen "bags"
muizen "mice"
handen "hands"
sappen "juices"
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[ArcticStar]

Greatly done. Here comes my answers for the exercises.
I painted it in white to make it look extra harmless.



Answers for A

staan "to stand” - long
kind "child" - short
soort "sort" - long
leven "life" - short
spel "game" - short
vuur "fire” - long
spelen "to play" - short
man "man" - short
sport "sport" - short
veel "much, many" - long

answers for B


vlaggen "flags" [fla.X@(n)]
praten "to talk" [pRa.t@(n)]
kamer "chamber" [ka.mEr]
wijd "wide" [P{it]
raadzaam "advisable" [Ra:t.sa:m]
sterk "strong" [stERk]
vleessaus "meat sauce" [fle:.saus]
taal "language" [ta:l]
leren "to learn" [lE.r@(n)]
stelen "to steal" [stE.l@(n)]

hope that's somewhat correct, my x sampa isn't flawless either

[Glossotechnites]

Very nicely done, Artic. Only a few mistakes (technically just one).

Answers for A

staan "to stand” - long - correct
kind "child" - short - correct
soort "sort" - long - correct
leven "life" - short - it's long here, it's in an open syllable le-ven, if it were short it would be "lev-ven", but that does not exist
spel "game" - short - correct
vuur "fire” - long - correct
spelen "to play" - short - it's long, same thing as with leven, spe-len
man "man" - short - correct
sport "sport" - short - correct
veel "much, many" - long - correct

answers for B

vlaggen "flags" [fla.X@(n)] - correct
praten "to talk" [pRa.t@(n)] - correct
kamer "chamber" [ka.mEr] - correct (only r => R, but I'm assuming typo )
wijd "wide" [P{it] - correct
raadzaam "advisable" [Ra:t.sa:m] - correct (nice!)
sterk "strong" [stERk] - correct
vleessaus "meat sauce" [fle:.saus] - correct (well done!)
taal "language" [ta:l] - correct
leren "to learn" [lE.r@(n)] - the e is a long vowel here, because it's in an open syllable, but I see that I stupidly forgot to tell you something else too, a long [e:] turns into [I:] before <r> and becomes rhetoflexed(?), so it is [lI:`.R@(n)], I'll add this to Lesson 1 later today,
stelen "to steal" [stE.l@(n)] - same thing, [ste:.l@(n)]

Note that a vowel in an open syllable (spe-len, ste-len) is a long vowel [e:]. Open means that the syllable is not closed by a consonant ("la" is open, "laat" is closed). The phonetic transcription with a short vowel [E] you gave for "stelen" [stE.l@(n)] would be written as "stellen", because here the syllable is closed: spel-len, but it has a totally different meaning . Begrijp je dit?
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[Aszev]

A. Indicate whether the underlined vowel is long or short in the following words.

staan "to stand” LONG
kind "child" SHORT
soort "sort" LONG
leven "life" LONG
spel "game" SHORT
vuur "fire” LONG
spelen "to play" LONG
man "man" SHORT
sport "sport" SHORT
veel "much, many" LONG

B. Give the phonetic transcription in X-SAMPA of the following words (in H preferably). You may leave out stress.

vlaggen "flags" ["flAX@n]
praten "to talk" ["pRa:t@(n)]
kamer "chamber" ["ka:m@R]
wijd "wide" [PEId]
raadzaam "advisable" ["Ra:dza:m]
sterk "strong" [stERk]
vleessaus "meat sauce" ["fle:sAu:s]
taal "language" [ta:l]
leren "to learn" ["le:R@(n)]
stelen "to steal" ["ste:l@(n)]
_________________
蛇 蛇

[Glossotechnites]

Well done. Only a few little mistakes:

["ka:m@R], [stERk] - I won't make a lot of fuss about this, but don't forget to rhotacize vowels before <r> in your pronunciation, (so [ka:.m@`R] and [stE`Rk])
wijd "wide" [PEId] - the <ij> is either [Ei] or [{i], and remember that syllabic final obstruents (plosives and fricatives) are devoiced, [d] > [t], so it should be [P{it]
raadzaam "advisable" ["Ra:dza:m] - same thing, the final <d> in "raad" is syllabe final and therefore devoiced to [t], and the <z> of "zaam" is devoiced as well due to the assimilation with [t], see Fricative-Assimilation in compounds, but this one was indeed tricky, it should be ["Ra:t.sa:m]
leren "to learn" ["le:R@(n)] - the long <e(e)> changes tone to [I:] when it is rhotacized, so it should be [lI:`.R@(n)]

All the rest seems to be correct. Well done !
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[Glossotechnites]

Lesson Twee - Les Twee

EDIT: This lesson merged with lesson 1 and 3.
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[Aszev]

advocaat
pasta
triomf
spaghetti
agenda
bibliotheek
chaos
september
kilo
bioscoop
_________________
蛇 蛇

[Glossotechnites]

[Aszev]

Joepie! En ik ben alleen maar aan gevoel gegaan!
_________________
蛇 蛇

[Glossotechnites]

Lesson Three - Les Drie

EDIT: This lesson merged with lesson 1 and 2.
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[Aszev]

A.

ramen
kazen
rammen
stenen
raven
kaarsen
flessen
landschappen
dozen
planten

B.

pak
neef
naam
fiets
rugzak
dijk
tas
muis
hand
sap
_________________
蛇 蛇

[Glossotechnites]

[Glossotechnites]

Lesson Four - Les Vier
A start with adjectives

1. Noun gender and articles

Gender in general
In theory, the Dutch language has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. But as there is no visible distinction between the masculine and feminine gender for adjectives, we will simply use the term common gender in this lesson. The masculine/feminine distinction is important for (personal) pronouns that would refer to or replace a noun.
The problem with gender is that it's not that easy to identify. For the most, there is nothing the noun's form indicates that will help you finding out its gender. Therefore you should simply always learn the gender together with the noun. There are, however, some tricks/features that could help you:
Masculine:
- masculine by biological gender: male animals, e.g. de leeuw "lion" and male agents (–er), e.g. de man "man", de speler "player" etc.
- seasons: de zomer "summer", de herfst "autumn, fall"
Feminine:
- feminine by biological gender: female animals, e.g. de leeuwin "lioness", and female agents (-in, -es(se), -ster), e.g. de vrouw "woman", de serveerster "waitress" etc.
- nouns ending with –erij, -heid, -tie, -teit, -ing: de bakkerij "bakery", de vrijheid "freedom", de vergadering "meeting"
Neuter
- diminutives: het meisje "girl", het broodje "bread roll"
- points of the compass: het zuiden "south", het noorden "north"
- languages: in het Nederlands "in Dutch", in het Engels "in English"
- substantive infinitives: het eten "food", het drinken "drink(s)"

Articles
The definite article ("the") for common and plural is de [d@] and for neuter singular het [hEt], sometimes realized as 't [@t]. The indefinite article ("a, an") is for both genders een [@n]. As in English, there is no indefinite article for plural. For the most, these articles are used the same as in English. The only difference is that abstract nouns can be definite, e.g. het leven "life" and de dood "death", languages can be definite, e.g. in het Zweeds "in Swedish", and some abbreviations use the article where English would rather omit it. Note that definiteness is also of importance with adjectives.

2. Declension of adjectives

Attributive adjectives
Attributive adjectives always precede the noun they modify. They must agree with the noun in number, gender and definiteness. This may sound complicated, but it isn't at all. There are two basic declensions for the adjective: the e-declension [@] and the Ø-(zero)declension, e.g. goede and goed "good". The only thing you should simply remember is that the indefinite neuter singular noun uses the Ø-declension, and all the rest the e-declension. Thus:

de goede man "the good man" (com. sg. def.)
de goede mannen "the good men" (com. pl. def.)
een goede man "a good man" (com. sg. indef.)
goede mannen "good men" (com. pl. indef.)

het grote huis "the big house" (neut. sg. def.)
de grote huizen "the big houses" (neut. pl. def.)
een groot huis "a big house" (neut. sg. indef.)
grote huizen "big houses" (neut. pl. indef.)

Note that the spelling rules of the previous lesson also apply to adjectives, e.g. groot => grote, and not *groote; remember the *V-V-C-V rule? An exception to this are the adjectives with the pattern V-V-i, e.g. mooi – mooie, and not *moie.

Predicative adjectives
Predicative adjectives never change form. They use the Ø-declension only. There are more verbs than the verb zijn "to be" that use a predicative adjective, such as copulas, but we'll discuss them later. The third person singular and third person plural form of zijn are: is [Is] and zijn [z{in].

De leeuw is groot. "The lion is big"
Het huis is klein. "The house is small"
De mannen zijn sterk. "The men are strong"
Vrouwen zijn mooi. "Women are beautiful"

3. Exercises

A. Translate the following sentence by using the vocabulary of this lesson and below. and adopt the spelling rules of the previous lesson. Gender will be indicated with the article, if necessary.

These people are nice.
The house is too big.
The food is no good.
Little women are beautiful.
The bold men
A boring meeting
The friendly waitress
Tasty food
Warm and cold seasons
A nice day

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deze mensen "these people" (de, pl.),
aardig "nice" (people)
te "too"
niet "not, no"
lekker "nice, good, tasty" (food)
klein "little, small"
kaal "bald"
saai "boring"
vriendelijk "friendly"
warm "warm" <=> koud "cold"
seizoen (het) "season"
en "and"
leuk "nice, fun"
dag (de) "day"

B. Cognitive exercise: Indicate the meaning of the following Dutch words by your knowledge of English.

rivier
broer (from broeder)
straat
vader
hond
moeder
nieuw
zus (from zuster)
gras
lang
_________________
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Trolos vese hi dat sege farvel venner de veg sik fordeme.

[jonti_swe]

ik wil nederlands leren