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FAQ-NL: Dutch | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5333 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 153 of 509 25 October 2010 at 1:06pm | IP Logged |
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I thought I had just thought of a rule of thumb for when to use weten vs. kennen but then I reread JanKG's post and found the sentence Ik weet het antwoord which messes up my theory. Anyway, I'll post it anyway and maybe it will help clear things up even a little bit.
Aside from the fact that kennen can always be replaced with being acquainted with which is a good rule, I also noticed that we always use conjugations like dat and wat when we use weten. So I thought of some English sentences that use conjugations after to know and all of them would be translated with weten: I know (that) the world is round. > Ik weet dat de wereld rond is. I know what he did. > Ik weet wat hij gedaan heeft. I know where he went. > Ik weet waar hij heen is gegaan. I know why he did it. > Ik weet waarom hij het heeft gedaan. All of these sentences include conjugations to connect clauses while sentences with kennen always consist of one clause; Ik ken hem. > I know him. (I know who he is. would be Ik weet wie hij is.) Ik ken de evolutietheorie. > I know the evolution theory. (Again, I know what the evolution theory is. would be Ik weet wat de evolutietheorie is.) So based on this I thought maybe the rule is that weten can’t take a noun as a direct object but only clauses while kennen takes nouns. It all made perfect sense until I thought of these: Ik weet het. > I know. Ik weet de regels. > I know the rules. Ik weet de weg. > I know the way. Ik weet het antwoord. > I know the answer. I think the first one could be explained away by saying that het could refer to a aforementioned clause. As for the rest, like JanKG mentions, some prefer to use kennen here. Both sound natural to me so I thought it might be a recent development due to the rule being forgotten so I asked my mother what she was taught and what her parents used to say but she said they said both as well so there goes that idea. It might still be a geographical variation. I just don’t know. Edited by ReneeMona on 25 October 2010 at 1:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| NiceApple Newbie United Kingdom applelanguages.nl/ Joined 5106 days ago 6 posts - 8 votes | Message 154 of 509 30 November 2010 at 5:27pm | IP Logged |
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I agree with you that it's also often a geographical variation. Being from Brabant ( a region in the Netherlands) myself, I know we use 'kennen' a lot in informal speech while we often prefer to use 'weten' in more formal speech.
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| Aquila Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5479 days ago 104 posts - 128 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: French | Message 155 of 509 30 November 2010 at 5:52pm | IP Logged |
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"Ik weet de regels" sounds rather strange to me. I think mostly you'll hear "Ik ken de regels" (I would use this sentence in any case).
I think there's a slight difference in meaning when you use "weten" or "kennen". Example: "Ik weet de weg" = I know how to get to the place where i'm going. "Ik ken de weg" = I know the way, because I was driving it every day. Or: I know the way you're talking about. Edited by Aquila on 30 November 2010 at 6:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| JanKG Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5765 days ago 245 posts - 280 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Italian, Finnish | Message 156 of 509 30 November 2010 at 6:09pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting additions, Aguila, I fully agree: I would never say: "Ik weet de regels".
Interesting distinction as well: I'd explain it in this case as the difference between a practical knowledge (weten) and a theoretical knowledge (kennen). I could imagine b taking another road, in spite of knowing it, whereas a will say that when s/he is about take that road... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vini Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 5106 days ago 24 posts - 22 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Latin, Dutch | Message 157 of 509 06 December 2010 at 2:05pm | IP Logged |
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I am not sure if this is the place I am supposed to do this, but since I found no thread the covered such topic, I'd like someone to help me out. Since writing is generally something self-learnings books do not take in consideration and as I also want to develop my writing skills on my targeted languages, here it goes.
I started learning Dutch two days ago and I tried creating some sentences with the vocabulary I've learned so far. Please don't take in consideration the cohesive and cohesion aspects of the sentences, although I tried to do it by using connectors (such "ook" and "maar"), I'd like some Dutch speaker to correct some sentences I've written (myself): Mijn schoonmoeder is een directeur bij de bank. Ze heeft een dochter en een zoon, Zij zoon is ziek in bed, zij dochter is ook in bed. Mijn schoonmoeder werkt bij de bank, maar ze heeft geen salaris. Ik heb geen salaris maar ik heb een wagen. Mijn huis is op de hoek van de straat. Mijn schoonzoon heeft drie kinderen en schulden, hij werkt bij de bank, hij is een bediende. Werkt bij de bank is interessant! Thank you!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| JanKG Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5765 days ago 245 posts - 280 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Italian, Finnish | Message 159 of 509 06 December 2010 at 3:45pm | IP Logged |
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De correcties waren eigenlijk al perfect !
Mijn schoonmoeder is bankdirecteur. Ze heeft een dochter en een zoon, haar zoon is ziek in bed, haar dochter is ook in bed. [haar/zijn refer to the possessor: schoonmoeder in this case] Mijn schoonmoeder werkt bij de bank, maar ze heeft geen salaris. Ik heb geen salaris maar ik heb een wagen. Mijn huis is (staat) op de hoek van de straat. Mijn schoonzoon heeft drie kinderen en schulden, hij werkt bij de bank, hij is een bediende. werken bij de bank is interessant! Edited by JanKG on 06 December 2010 at 3:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vini Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 5106 days ago 24 posts - 22 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Latin, Dutch | Message 160 of 509 06 December 2010 at 4:12pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you both (Kuikentje and JanKG) for correcting my sentences!
I want to develop my writing skills aside my speaking and reading (these two the only the "teach yourself" type of books cover), So I will drop sentences and hopefully essays in a near future here so you guys can help me out! I'd be willing in helping you all in Portuguese/English too. Thank you again! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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