Laurence(何安傑)
Nederlandse Grammatica / Dutch Grammar Hello everyone, I have massive trouble with Dutch grammar. I am a native English speaker, and a grammar Nazi, and think that speaking with correct grammar. Are there any simple and steadfast rules? If no, then does anyone have anything I can read to improve my grammar. If you reply in English then I will have more chance of understanding exactly what you mean. Thanks.
May 19, 2014 9:54 AM
Answers · 11
1
You might find this website useful: http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Grammar/DutchGrammar Can you see that list on the top-left that starts with "Spelling and pronunciation"? Each of those links will lead you to a page like this one: http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=SpellingAndPronunciation.01 From there, you can see a list of pages describing various grammar rules down the left of the page. It's very comprehensive, but the main problem with it is that it's organised so you can find information easily rather than being in an order suitable for a learner. For example, if you read all the pages in order you wouldn't begin to learn about word order until after completely reading all the categories before that (spelling and pronunciation, verbs, nouns and articles etc.). If you don't intend to use your Dutch before you've read everything that might be okay, but otherwise you'll have to navigate to each page as you need it. I've also found a surprising amount of Dutch grammar books at second hand book stores. A lot of them are a bit old and not in the best condition, but they can be very useful.
May 19, 2014
I use the website above. I also use Bruce Donaldson Dutch Grammar and Jenneke Oosterhof's Basic and Intermediate Grammar. I am self taught as there are no Dutch classes where I live. How I've learned grammar for speaking is doing it through writing! I write about things that I'm interested in and then work out the grammar I need. But this means you need to know your English grammar! (So that's a bit of a problem if your grammar is a bit rubbish in English). My written Dutch is much better than my spoken Dutch which I'm now working on, but at least means I only have to bother about vocabulary and having the confidence to speak as the basic grammar is under my belt. If your grammar IS rubbish, why not just work through a book with exercises - like Jenneke Oosterhof'. All three books are available through Amazon and cost a fortune! Though Benny Lewis (great website) says you just need to get talking with someone patient who will correct you!
May 23, 2014
some words don't have a plural and still needs to be put in plural if so use a synonym that does have a plural like e.g. aanbod --> aanbiedingen dank --> dankbetuigingen ... then you also have plurals with s like e.g wafels, they also have rules like if they end on -e, -el, -en, -er, -em, -ie, é, eau just add s e.g. pose --> poses, parel --> parels, burger --> burgers, café -->cafés, cadeau --> cadeaus if they end on –a, -i, -o, -u, -y just add 's e.g. opa --> opa's, ski --> ski's, auto --> auto's, baby --> baby's plurals from abbreviations CD 's, DVD's, SMS'en, .... --> or 's or 'en no rules this is a bit of grammar I can give you, there's so much more to tell about. Do you have a specific grammar issue just ask, because this may not answer your question... yet this is good to know 'though. if you want to learn more, feel free to contact me http://www.italki.com/teacher/1499793
June 6, 2014
plurals In Dutch the plurals is even hard for the native speakers, don't get frustrated if this doesn't work jaar (year), muziek (music), slaap (sleep), geld (money) = no plural 1 jaar, 2 jaar, 3 jaar note!!! it took years = het duurde jaren (this one does have a plural) plurals are mostly for zelfstandige naamwoorden (noun) or (ZN) they sometimes work like this ZN+en or ZN+s BUT they're all different, lot's and lot's of exceptions... there's a trick for the plurals ZN+en ~s = ~zen e.g. buis --> buizen, muis --> muizen ~f = ~ven e.g. fuif --> fuiven, korf --> korven ~heid = ~heden e.g. kleinigheid --> kleinigheden, waarheid --> waarheden ~vowel = ien e.g. koe --> koeien, vlo --> vlooien!! watch out 2 o's here ~ee = +ën e.g. idee --> ideeën, zee--> zeeën ~ie= +ën e.g. drie --> drieën, categorie --> categorieën note!!! this is not with all the ZNen there are exceptions the actual rule is the accent, if the word accents the last syllable = +ën if the word accents another syllable you leave an 'e' and then +ën e.g. assuRANtie --> assurantiën the 'ran' has the accent here this really hard and advanced even native speakers have problems with it so don't get frustrated more follows
June 6, 2014
at first Dutch verbs have a 'stam' (I don't know the english word, it is pronounced with the a from the british can't) this 'stam' is the 'ik-vorm' from the verb e.g.: infinitief (infinitive) = werken stam = werk this is a way of remembering the conjugation of the verb Dutch is like this ik stam jij stam+t hij/zij/het stam+t wij/jullie/zij infinitief e.g.: ik werk jij werkt --> stam+t hij/zij/het werkt --> stam+t this is for mostly all of the verbs another grammar thing that might be usefull
June 6, 2014
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!