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FAQ-NL: Dutch | ||
Tags: The Netherlands | Dutch | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| nimchimpsky Diglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5612 days ago 73 posts - 108 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English | Message 457 of 509 19 October 2012 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Onze Taal is more lenient than you Tarvos.
Een aantal collega's gingen According to them it depends on whether you view 'een aantal' as an indefinite number or a close group. This allows you to make a subtle distinction between: "Er is hier een aantal mensen dat met u wil spreken" and "Er zijn hier een aantal mensen die met u willen spreken". In the first sentence a group wants to speak with someone and in the second sentence the people who want to speak with someone want to speak with him or her as an individual. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 458 of 509 19 October 2012 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah that's the same problem as in English (or in any other language formulating the
phrase similarly) but I always use "is" in English too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nimchimpsky Diglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5612 days ago 73 posts - 108 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English | Message 459 of 509 19 October 2012 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Do you feel the distinction I mentioned? 'Een aantal mensen gaat met vakantie' and 'Een aantal mensen gaan met vakantie'. In the first sentence they went together and in the second there're just individuals going on holiday? I wonder if that is indeed an accurate description of Dutch usage.
Your solution based on your reference is of course wrong because the whole phrase is the subject 'een aantal leerlingen'. Although I agree that the singular form is probably more formal. However, for speaking it doesn't really matter. People won't look down upon you like they look down upon people who say 'hun hebben'. I certainly don't have negative attitudes towards people who use 'zijn' instead of 'is'. Edited by nimchimpsky on 19 October 2012 at 8:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 460 of 509 19 October 2012 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't really feel the difference, sorry. The two sentence mean the same to me (if I
wanted to emphasise together I would add the word "samen" somewhere). But yeah, orally, both is fine. Hun hebben is pretty much an abomination. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 461 of 509 20 October 2012 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
That is very subtle and very interesting. Thanks very much. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bbcatcher 08 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4419 days ago 130 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian | Message 462 of 509 24 October 2012 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Is there a starting point that y'all would suggest for me to start at? I am currently
studying from a few books, but it seems that I am getting lost because the books are at different points of which they start. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 463 of 509 04 November 2012 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||
That is an interesting and I believe all too common a question. I don't think there is one obvious starting point. But probably the standard Dutch courses in Assimil, Pimsleur and Michael Thomas could easily be a starting point. I suggest Rosetta Stone is not a good starting point or even a good course at all. For books, there are a number that are good starters. There are two colloquial Dutch books by Bruce Donaldson that are great. Routledge books and courses are excellent. Perhaps a good starting place would be Dutch for Dummies which I find to be very useful. One thing I would suggest: For each book or course you get, work through it completely over a relatively short period of time. Then move on to another one and do it completely. I have a lot of such books and courses that I have tried to work on simultaneously, or in bits and pieces. And then you lose track. They become less interesting as you progress beyond the basic levels. So try to do each completely and quickly. I think that gives you the best value and the best learning. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 464 of 509 04 November 2012 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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FAQ-NL: Difference between "een honderdtal dingen" and "een honderd dingen"?
I suspect that "honderdtal" means "about a hundred" whereas "honderd" means a more accurate hundred. Are they interchangeable unless you want to mean "exactly one hundred"? For "exactly one hundred", is "één honderd dingen" better? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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