One of the grammatical things that we covered in last night’s class was the placement of the verb in main clauses (I did not go to school) and subordinate clauses (because I was sick). In Dutch they are called the hoofdzin and the bijzin, respectively.

In Dutch (and German) the verb in the bijzin goes to the end of the clause in most cases. You have some special conjugations that do not affect the placement of the verb, but there are only a few. They are en (and), of (or), want (because), maar (but), and dus (thus). The rest of the conjunctions affect the placement of the verb.

Ik ga niet naar school want ik was ziek. I did not go to school because I was sick. (“want” does not require the verb “was” to go to the end of the sentence.)

Ik ga niet naar school omdat ik ziek was. I did not go to school because I was sick. (“omdat”, another way to say because, forces the verb “was” to the end of the clause.)

Zij gaat direct werken nadat ze voor de opleiding geslaagd is. She will work after she has passed her education (course).

If you use one of the special connectors that affect the placement of the verb, you can also begin with the subordinate clause and end with the main clause. You then need to have inversion of the subject and the verb in the main clause. This has the awesome effect (if you like grammar like I do) of placing the two conjugated verbs next to each other with only a comma in the middle.

Omdat ik ziek was, ga ik niet naar school. Move the subordinate clause in front, and invert ‘ik’ and ‘ga’ (subject and verb). Then you have the two conjugated verbs (‘was’, ‘ga’) next to each other with only a comma in between.

Nadat ze voor de opleiding geslaagd is, gaat zij direct werken. 

The normal connectors — en (and), of (or), want (because), maar (but), and dus (thus) — cannot be put at the front of the sentence.

While it is annoying in the beginning to change verbs around like this, it does get easier with a lot of practice. I definitely have Marco to thank for that as he has helped correct a lot of my mistakes! But practice, practice, practice.

Last night was the 16th class by ROC Mondriaan. We did something that we have done almost every Wednesday (as we have different teachers on Monday and Wednesday). It is an exercise called Vandaag – nu – hier or Today – now – here. I think it’s an exercise the teacher himself made.  It covers about 20 very simple sentences like:

Het lokaal is… The classroom is… [#106]

Het seizoen is… The season is… [herfst/fall]

De lesdagen zijn… The class days are… [maandag & woensdag/Monday and Wednesday].

Usually he goes through the exercise once and then tries to put a spin on it. This time when he asked the temperature questions he began a discussion about freezing, melting, ice, hail, and similar things.

Then we moved on to the book. We started chapter 5, Leren en Werken or Learning and Working. Instead of starting with the introduction page on the right side, he first asked us to look at the photo on the left side. It showed a woman helping a male teenager using the computer – presumably she was his mother or teacher. He asked us to describe the photo and then he asked us to guess her age. He then launched into a discussion about guessing and uncertainty:

een raden = iets dat je niet weet maar je zegt het toch. Something you don’t know [for sure] but you say it anyway. ‘a guess’

Ik raad dat zijn leeftijd 15 is. I guess that his age is 15.

Ik geloof dat… I believe that…

We then talked about the education system in the Netherlands which you can read about on Wikipedia. First you have onderwijs (education) and then you have opleiding (university or job training). The interesting thing about Dutch education is that around age 12 you take the Cito test which helps your teacher and parents determine what track you should be on in high school.  It is of course possible to step sideways to another track (higher or lower), although if you going to a higher track you might need to start at a slightly lower year than you otherwise would have if you had stayed in your own track.

The highest track (gymnasium – nothing to do with physical education!) also teaches ancient Latin and Greek. That sounds pretty cool if you ask me…

And here I was just happy that I was able to pick from German, French and Spanish in high school. (I ended up with 4 years Spanish and 2 years French although only 2 years in one language are required.)

Back to hitting the books!

Last night our Dutch teacher had a pretty good explanation for what happens when you learn Dutch – or any other language for that matter. The progress isn’t always as fast as it was in the beginning…

The above photo is quite true. Sometimes at work I have “bad days” (nothing that comes out of my mouth seems to make sense to the library customer!) and then there are “good days” (when I am actually able to articulate myself “on the fly” as it were – or quickly and effortlessly). Work is the hardest place to speak Dutch, because I never know what the other person is going to want or ask. In other situations with family and friends it is much more relaxed.

We also learned a few new vocabulary words (in a section about parents buying mobile phones for their children):

gloednieuw – pas gekocht, helemaal nieuw. Something you just bought, completely new.

peperduur = vroeger kwam peper van Azië en het was heel duur. In the past pepper came from Asia at a terribly expensive price. Now something can be not just duur (expensive) but can also be peperduur.

We also looked at writing a formal letter, something I learned in my last class at Volksuniversiteit, though practice never hurt anyone. One thing I did learn though is this phrase:

Bij voorbaat dank voor uw … Thanks in advance for your…

antwoord / reactie / medewerking … answer, reaction, consideration/participation

Or a few other ways to say you’re waiting for their reply:

Ik hoor het graag van u. I hear it gladly from you.

Kunt u mij snel een reactie sturen? Can you send a reaction quickly?

Ik wacht op uw antwoord/reactie. I wait for your answer/reaction.