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Dutch & German - Just How Similar? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 33 of 37 30 June 2010 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm sure I've heard constructions like ich bin gerade beim Lesen.
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| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 34 of 37 30 June 2010 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | ||
IMHO, this construction is more acceptable in terms of grammar than "am lesen" etc. Still, the fact remains that German has no special continuous verb forms. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Agger Newbie Belgium Joined 5259 days ago 1 posts - 2 votes | Message 35 of 37 03 July 2010 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Dutch, you actually have several continuous forms.
*Haar vader is aan het sterven; het schip is aan het zinken; de storm is aan het luwen - most used type *Haar vader is stervende; het schip is zinkende; het storm is luwende - sounds more intense or dramatic; the participle can also be used an an adjective (de stervende vader, het zinkende schip, de luwende storm) On top, you have some informal (oral) forms: *Hij zit te denken; ze ligt te slapen *Hij is bezig te denken 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Earle Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6316 days ago 276 posts - 276 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Norwegian, Spanish | Message 36 of 37 05 July 2010 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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I've said it before, but having several years of schoolboy Latin helped me enormously in learning declensions in German. The rules are the same; German is just somewhat simpler. I wouldn't suggest anyone learn Latin in order to learn any language, but, if one'd had had it forced on one, knowing that way of reasoning is a big advantage...
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| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5336 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 37 of 37 12 October 2010 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | ||
This is not entirely true. Before 1581 the low countries were called the Seventeen Provinces and they were states within the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by Charles V. After his abdication in 1556, the Seventeen Provinces were passed on to his son Philip II of Spain so they became part of the Spanish Empire. The independence of the Dutch Republic was declared in 1581 and recognised in 1648 by the Spanish Empire, not by the German Empire, which existed between 1871-1918 when the Netherlands was already an independent nation. Edited by ReneeMona on 12 October 2010 at 2:35pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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