Dutch Essential Grammar Concepts... Important For Newbies To Master...

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Friendship Saturday 10th of December 2005 05:44:54 AM
Essential Grammar Concepts... - Hello everyone, this is just a "friendly" greeting, containing some Grammar concepts that all newbies must make sure they understand. These are the important terms that our Dutch teachers here use, when explaining how we can quickly and surely learn the Dutch language fluently...
CLOSED SYLLABLE:
One that ends in a consonant e.g. kat,kat-ten;man,man-nen

OPEN SYLLABLE:
One that ends in a vowel, e.g. maan(closed) but ma-nen(First syl. open and second syl. closed). The "N" after ma is seen as belonging to the next syllable in Dutch.

CONTINUOUS:
The present or past continuous is another name for the present or past progressive.

DEMONSTRATIVES:
As the word implies, is a word that points out or distinguishes. "this/these" and "that/those" are examples of demonstratives.

FINITE VERB:
One which has a subject and takes an ending, e.g. "Hij SCHRIFT een boek". The opposite to this is an "infinitive", which is the basic form of a verb that has not been defined as to who is performing it i.e. it does not have an ending, e.g. "Hij gaat een brief SCHRIJVEN", where gaat is a finite verb and schrijven is an infinitive.

FIRST PERSON:
The pronoun "I" is referred to as the first person singular and "we" as the first person plural.

IMPERFECT TENSE:
Also called the simple past, is that tense of the verb expressed by a single word in Dutch, e.g schreef: "wrote". It contrasts with the "perfect tense" or compound past which consists of 2 words, e.g. "Hij heeft geschreven," He has written

PERFECT TENSE:
In Dutch, is a compund tense, i.e., one formed from more than one word, where the finited verb is a form of the verb zijn or hebben plus a past participle, e.g. "Hij heeft een brief geschriven, Hij is naar huis gegaan".

TRANSITIVE VERB:
One that can take an object, as opposed to an intransitive verb, which is one that cannot,e.g. "He is reading a book"("read" is transitive because of "book"), but "He is going to Germany"("go" is intransitive because "to Germany" is not the object of the verb, merely an adverb of place telling you where the action of the verb is to take place.)

VERBAL NOUN:
a verb(i.e. an infinitive) that is used as a noun,e.g. het lezen van kookboeken"the reading of cookbooks".

THIRD PERSON:
The pronouns "he" "she" and "it" are referred to as the third person singular and "they" as the third person plural.

SECOND PERSON:
The pronoun "you" is referred to as the second person. In Dutch there are two forms in the singular, jij and u, and two forms in the plural, jullie and u where English only has the one word for all functions.

MODEL VERB:
A model auxiliary verb is a verb which is always used in conjunction with an infinitive and which expresses the attitude of the subject of the action to be performed, i.e. volition (willen "to want to"), obligation (moeten"to have to/must"), permission (mogen "to be allowed to/may"), ability (kunnen "to be able to/can"). These vebs in both English and Dutch show many irregularities.

DOUBLE INFINITIVE:
a construction where a clause in the perfect tense has two innfinitives at the end of it, rather than a past participle and an infinitive, e.g. Ik heb hem zien komen and not Ik heb hem gezien kommen.

DIRECT OBJECT:
The object of the verb, i.e. the person or thing that is having the action of the verb performed on it, e.g. "I can see the man/the ball".

INDIRECT OBJECT:
THE indirect object in a sentance is the person or object the action of the verb is applied "to", e.g. He gave the book(direct object) to the girl(indirect object).

CONDITONAL:
The conditional is the tense of a verb formed with "would", i.e. it expresses what you would do if a certain condition applied,e.g. "I would go if I had enough time"

PROGRESSIVE:
The present or past progressive is a variation of the present or past tenses that emphasizes that an action is or was in the process of being performed,e.g. "He is/was reading" is the progressive form of "He reads/read".

LOCATIVE:
A locative er is one that means "there" with reference to a place,e.g. Ik heb er vroeger gewoond "I used to live there". This is in contrast to other meanings of er which do not refer to place,e.g. Er was eens een konig "Once upon a time there was a king".

PARTITIVE:
This refers to one of the functions of er,i.e. that which is used in combinations with numerals and quantities,e.g. Ik heb er tien gezien "I was ten of them", Ik heb er maar een kwart gebruikt "I only used a quarter(of them/it), where it refers to part of a greater value.
I hope this helps people...

iandominicp77 Monday 12th of December 2005 04:12:51 PM
- Helpful. Goed gedaan.

ian

Phrasebase Archive
	Friendship	Saturday 10th of December 2005 05:44:54 AM
	Essential Grammar Concepts... - Hello everyone, this is just a "friendly" greeting, containing some Grammar concepts that all newbies must make sure they understand. These are the important terms that our Dutch teachers here use, when explaining how we can quickly and surely learn the Dutch language fluently... CLOSED SYLLABLE: One that ends in a consonant e.g. kat,kat-ten;man,man-nen OPEN SYLLABLE: One that ends in a vowel, e.g. maan(closed) but ma-nen(First syl. open and second syl. closed). The "N" after ma is seen as belonging to the next syllable in Dutch. CONTINUOUS: The present or past continuous is another name for the present or past progressive. DEMONSTRATIVES: As the word implies, is a word that points out or distinguishes. "this/these" and "that/those" are examples of demonstratives. FINITE VERB: One which has a subject and takes an ending, e.g. "Hij SCHRIFT een boek". The opposite to this is an "infinitive", which is the basic form of a verb that has not been defined as to who is performing it i.e. it does not have an ending, e.g. "Hij gaat een brief SCHRIJVEN", where gaat is a finite verb and schrijven is an infinitive. FIRST PERSON: The pronoun "I" is referred to as the first person singular and "we" as the first person plural. IMPERFECT TENSE: Also called the simple past, is that tense of the verb expressed by a single word in Dutch, e.g schreef: "wrote". It contrasts with the "perfect tense" or compound past which consists of 2 words, e.g. "Hij heeft geschreven," He has written PERFECT TENSE: In Dutch, is a compund tense, i.e., one formed from more than one word, where the finited verb is a form of the verb zijn or hebben plus a past participle, e.g. "Hij heeft een brief geschriven, Hij is naar huis gegaan". TRANSITIVE VERB: One that can take an object, as opposed to an intransitive verb, which is one that cannot,e.g. "He is reading a book"("read" is transitive because of "book"), but "He is going to Germany"("go" is intransitive because "to Germany" is not the object of the verb, merely an adverb of place telling you where the action of the verb is to take place.) VERBAL NOUN: a verb(i.e. an infinitive) that is used as a noun,e.g. het lezen van kookboeken"the reading of cookbooks". THIRD PERSON: The pronouns "he" "she" and "it" are referred to as the third person singular and "they" as the third person plural. SECOND PERSON: The pronoun "you" is referred to as the second person. In Dutch there are two forms in the singular, jij and u, and two forms in the plural, jullie and u where English only has the one word for all functions. MODEL VERB: A model auxiliary verb is a verb which is always used in conjunction with an infinitive and which expresses the attitude of the subject of the action to be performed, i.e. volition (willen "to want to"), obligation (moeten"to have to/must"), permission (mogen "to be allowed to/may"), ability (kunnen "to be able to/can"). These vebs in both English and Dutch show many irregularities. DOUBLE INFINITIVE: a construction where a clause in the perfect tense has two innfinitives at the end of it, rather than a past participle and an infinitive, e.g. Ik heb hem zien komen and not Ik heb hem gezien kommen. DIRECT OBJECT: The object of the verb, i.e. the person or thing that is having the action of the verb performed on it, e.g. "I can see the man/the ball". INDIRECT OBJECT: THE indirect object in a sentance is the person or object the action of the verb is applied "to", e.g. He gave the book(direct object) to the girl(indirect object). CONDITONAL: The conditional is the tense of a verb formed with "would", i.e. it expresses what you would do if a certain condition applied,e.g. "I would go if I had enough time" PROGRESSIVE: The present or past progressive is a variation of the present or past tenses that emphasizes that an action is or was in the process of being performed,e.g. "He is/was reading" is the progressive form of "He reads/read". LOCATIVE: A locative er is one that means "there" with reference to a place,e.g. Ik heb er vroeger gewoond "I used to live there". This is in contrast to other meanings of er which do not refer to place,e.g. Er was eens een konig "Once upon a time there was a king". PARTITIVE: This refers to one of the functions of er,i.e. that which is used in combinations with numerals and quantities,e.g. Ik heb er tien gezien "I was ten of them", Ik heb er maar een kwart gebruikt "I only used a quarter(of them/it), where it refers to part of a greater value. I hope this helps people...
	iandominicp77	Monday 12th of December 2005 04:12:51 PM
	- Helpful. Goed gedaan. ian