Learning Dutch

As most of my friends know, I do like my routine. But this week, due to various coworkers all deciding to go on vacation during the same two weeks, there is only anti-routine. I have to work nights rather than days. Thankfully the library closes 3 hours earlier in the summer, or this would be even worse.

But it’s so hard to tell my body Sleep in past 6am. Please. You know you (don’t) want to. So I went to bed after midnight, and up by 6. Not cool at all. And if I was at work right now, I’d be enjoying a cup of tea! (We always have a tea break at 9:30 in the morning. No, I don’t live in England.) On the plus side, I answered a lot of emails, took a shower, and am writing this blog post very early in the day. And after this, it is time to study Dutch a bit before my ride comes.

Lately Marco and I have been trying a new tactic – he gives me specific sentences to study (he also found audio files online for these sentences), and then when we meet up on videochat, we go over them. Sometimes the first time he says the sentence, I have no idea what he just said. But then he slows it down a bit and I get it. But of course these sentences are full of tongue twisters and Dutch sayings which don’t translate literally, so even Google translate isn’t always a help to me. But I do feel like my speech is slowly improving, though it is definitely baby steps.

Here are some interesting blog posts that I came across today while trying desperately to catch up:

Molen van Sloten, by Ghoti Industries

Post about the only public windmill in the Netherlands which even lets you go inside. Apparently pretty close to Amsterdam. I put it into my Chrome folder for “places to visit” someday.

Een dagje naar het strand (A day at the beach), by Fronz

Some nice photos, especially the first one. It looked like a very relaxing day.

One of the more random things I have been doing lately is studying tegenstellingen, or opposites in Dutch. It has mostly been helpful.

This was one page of the 6 or so pages of notes. Some of them are easier than others. Like stroef is rough, and glad is smooth. But good luck pronouncing glad if you’re not used to speaking Dutch. It’s not easy!

It seems that I have moved out of the “Other conjugations” section of dutchgrammar.com and into the irregular verbs section. Eek!

At first I was a bit concerned, since you are hit with a longgg list of irregular verbs which never seems to end. But then the following page showed the conjugation patterns, which helped to put things into like groups. So far I worked on two groups: e-ie-o and ie-oo-o.

It just goes on, and on, and…

The verb on the left is the infinitive (i.e. helpen = to help). The next column is for the singular past form, and the following columns (not shown) are for the plural past and the past participle. Those are the main things you need to memorize – single past, plural past, and past participle – since generally the present form is regular and there are only two forms in the simple past (singular and plural).

So basically, the past tense is the culprit. What dutchgrammar.com does is group like verbs together. So helpen, sterven, and werpen are in the same group: e – ie – o.

Infinitive: helpen, sterven, and werpen

Singular past: hielp, stierf*, and wierp

Plural past: hielpen, stierven, and wierpen

Past participle: geholpen, gestorven, and geworpen

* = in this form, v becomes f.

Next step – make flash cards for each group. But not tonight, so maybe this weekend.

Random: Trying to cross a four lane highway when the stoplights were not working properly (the main highway gets a flashing yellow light to be cautious, and the road I was on had a full red for you to come to a complete stop). It’s not that hard when you’re in a car, because you can move quickly… but when you’re on foot, it all but requires you sprint across. Which I eventually did, after finding a sufficient gap in traffic.

Nice: Reading page four/five of Het Geheim van de Verliefde Hulpkok with Marco during a videochat session. (I am on page 8 or so myself… need to get cracking to stay ahead.)

To do: Get back on track with the Dutchgrammar.com lessons. I have finished the other “Other Conjugations” section, and will soon be moving into the “Irregular Verbs” section. Oh boy!

Blog posts that I found interesting:

Ice cube coffee, by Trpana… Cool idea for a hot summer day (ice cubes made of coffee).

Dutch cats in Amsterdam, by Katriniella… That first cat definitely looks like he owns the place!

Here are some of the notes I took last night for the daily Dutch lesson. This page was talking about gerunds (verbs acting as nouns). In English this is generally verbs that act like nouns and end in –ing (the singing was horrible).

The “issue” with Dutch is they use the infinitive in this case (to sing), so it still looks like a verb. At least to me. 😉 But at least I know what to look for when I am trying to translate items.

Note taking at its finest…

The rest of the page is actually a summary of all verb types learned in that particular section. The thing that I remember most about the imperative (commands) section is that the English phrase “Let’s” (Let us…) is actually “Let we…” in Dutch. Laten we zingen. Let’s sing. (Rather than Laten ons zingen).

I generally transcribe most of what dutchgrammar.com says for each section; I don’t leave out much. That is because I tend to learn best by writing it out myself, rather than constantly referring back to the original source. But each person is different!

Over at dutchgrammar.com, the latest two sections that I have studied include using passive voice and the imperative commands (geef me chocolade! nu!).

I just know the passive is going to be trouble in Dutch. Particularly because the Dutch use zijn (to be) for the construction of the perfect tenses – i.e.

My hair has been washed = Mijn haar is gewassen.

My hair had been washed = Mijn haar was gewassen.

So the perfect tense uses is/was… which is normally the present tense in English. Uh boy. I can just see me mixing that one up. But everything I learn just makes it easier to figure out things, so I am usually happy to find out some weird quirk like that.

On a random note, one Dutch sentence Marco gave me today had the word sowieso (regardless) in it. I forgot about that word, but I love how it sounds. so-we-so.

I think it is time for me to go crash… not enough sleep last night. Figures!