I’m not quite sure when exactly, but sometime in the 1800s, Dutch linguists decided that the Dutch language needed more formal rules.
And so, they developed a linguistic system with formal rules, based on Latin believe.
However, maybe max. half a century later, many people were no longer following those rules and so they were abolished.
That is why, currently, Dutch grammar has a lot of grammar rules with exception. The grammar rules might be the remains of the Latin rules - with all the exceptions being the “informal” rules of the Dutch language.
(I can’t find the right source rn, so please correct me where I’m wrong)
Though the Dutch language is not very expressive when it comes to intonation, it can be very expressive in the way it uses words. Here come proverbs and sayings ('spreekwoorden en gezegden') into the picture. There are many different proverbs and sayings in the Dutch language, some of them so common many people don't realise they are proverbs and sayings.
Here are some of my favourites;
Oost West, Thuis Best = East West, Home Best (meaning; you feel most comfortable at home)
Ieder huisje heeft zijn kruisje = every home has their own cross (meaning; in every family or household there is (also) misery)
Uit je doppen kijken = to look out of your caps (meaning; to watch out)
Appeltje-eitje = little apple, little egg (meaning; something simple)
De kluts kwijtraken = to lose the 'kluts' (meaning; to lose track, to be confused
Oude koeien uit de sloot halen = digging up old cows from the ditch (meaning; to start over again about something (annoying) that happened in the past)
De hond in de pot vinden = to find the dog in the pot (meaning; arriving just when the food is finished)
Sidenote; use of the proverbs and sayings in practice might go a bit different than how they are written down. There's factors such as the dividision between North or South-Netherlands, and whether the person you're talking to is from a city or more rural areas.
source | other source | more extensive explanations
As said in the tags of the person above, there are a bunch of affixes and word groups you can memorize for this! It won’t cover everything, but it’ll cover most, barring a few exceptions. Also don’t worry, learning the Dutch articles is tough even for Dutch kids.
Below there’s a few lists of things you can keep in mind when learning. Source (page in Dutch): onzetaal.nl
Words that use both
First, since I’ll put a cut under de because one of the lists gets quite long, I’ll note that some words can use both het and de, but their meaning may change depending on which one. If you want, I’ll make a separate post on that since it’s quite interesting to look into, but it would get quite long here if I were to list them all. This website (Algemende Nederlandse Spraakkunst) discusses it, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find a source in English on my home laptop (aka without access to all the fancy schmancy university libraries and databases) that specifically discussed the logic behind the words that use both.
Het
Het is the neuter article in Dutch, though, since I noticed you're a German speaker, that does not mean any word that uses das in German uses het in Dutch (I'm learning German myself and learned this the hard way...)
All diminutives, even if their regular form uses de, use het. Diminutives in Dutch typically end in variations on the suffix -je.
Countries and other types of places (provinces, cities, towns, like that) use het, if they aren’t plural: het kleine Nederland (the small Netherlands), het mooie Gelderland (the beautiful Gelderland).
Then a few quick categories: metals, sports and games, languages, the wind directions (e.g., het noorden, but also combined forms like het noordoosten), and names for goods, like silver, wood, and bread (zilver, hout and brood).
Words with two syllables that start with be-, ge-, ver- or ont- all get het as well.
The same goes for words that end in: -isme, -ment, -sel and -um, though there are some exceptions to this rule like “deksel” (lid), which can take both het and de, and “datum” (date), which uses de. I couldn’t find an exhaustive list of exceptions, unfortunately, but I think you’ll come quite far once you’ve mastered the basics either way.
De
All plural forms (including of the categories above) get de.
Then there are some general groups, but again, there will be exceptions to most of these: fruits, trees, and plants, rivers and mountains, numbers and letters, and most words which refer to people, regardless of gender, so de vrouw and de man (the woman, the man).
Then words that end in one of these suffixes generally get de, but there’s quite a lot, so I’m putting a cut here. There are exceptions within most of these categories, though. I hoped this explanation helped you a bit!
Your time spent enjoying the creative process is infinitely more valuable that any final project you create. So stop putting yourself down for never finishing or posting those WIPs because every moment you spent creating something you loved is a moment not wasted. Your progress and talent is measured by your passion not your number of posts.
If you go out to eat with friends/colleagues/whatever and one person pays the bill, yes you can expect a payment request for your share of the meal.
If you hang out with friends at someones place and someone (could be the host) brings all the snacks and drinks, yes they can (and are expected to) ask everyone to pay for their share (especially when you're all young and broke)
But if you are a guest at someones home of course you will be offered drinks and food without anything asked in return.
We like things to be fair, but we're not monsters.
Cut > 'kut' means 'pussy/cunt' and is a Dutch swear word which is used about the same as 'shit' ('Kut, ik ben vergeten om...' : 'Shit, I have forgotten to..')
I just remembered this Dutch comedian who uses false friends in one of his sketches
So here are more:
Bait > 'Beet' means 'bit' ('Bite' past tense)
Song > 'Zong' means 'sang' (Singular) (Ik zong een lied = I sang a song)
Will > 'Wil' means '(I) want' (I form) (Ik wil = I want)
Red > 'Red' means '(to) save' or '(to) make it' (Ik ga het niet redden = I'm not going to make it)
Night > 'Naait' means '(He/She/it) sows' (Naaien is slang for having sex)
Tire > 'Taaier' means 'more tough'
Vicious > 'Visjes' means 'little fish' (plural)
Bend > 'Bent' means '(you) are' (Jij bent)
Rent > 'Rent' means '(he) runs' (Hij rent)
Road > 'Rood' means 'Red'
Case > 'Kees' is an (old fashioned) dutch boy's name
Less > 'Les' means 'lesson'
I > 'Aai' means '(I) pet' (Ik aai de kat = I pet te cat)
Sigh > 'Saai' means 'boring'
Dry > 'Draai' means '(I) turn'
Name > 'Neem' means '(I) take' (Ik neem er nog één = I take another one)
Store > 'Stoor' means '(I) disturb'
Door > 'Door' means 'by', 'because of', or 'through' (Gemaakt door mij = made by me)
When > 'Wen' means '(I) get used to' (Ik wen er aan = I get used to it)
Eats > 'Iets' means 'something'
Needs > 'Niets' means 'nothing'
How > 'Hou' means '(I) like' (always followed by 'van', 'Ik hou van kaas = I like cheese) (Ik hou van jou = I love you)
Cow > 'Kou' means 'cold', 'Kauw' means '(I) chew'
Flower > 'Flauwer' means 'more bland' (taste)
Mood > 'Moet' means 'must' (singular)
Might > 'Maait' means '(He/She/it) mows' (the grass)
Here > 'Heer' means 'lord'
Hoor > 'Hoor' means '(I) hear', and can also be added to 'ja' to mean something like 'yes, sure' (ja hoor), or to 'nee' to mean something 'No, that's OK' (nee hoor)
Cut > 'kut' means 'pussy/cunt' and is a Dutch swear word which is used about the same as 'shit' ('Kut, ik ben vergeten om...' : 'Shit, I have forgotten to..')
🇳🇱 Dutch: Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten bij achtentachtig prachtige grachten.
🇬🇧 English: We long for 88 beautiful nights by 88 beautiful canals.
Tasks: Parroting phrases from this video because I kind of promised @la-galaxie-langblr (and myself!) to learn words and phrases related to retail (the job search is going 🤞)
Another fun Dutch tv show for children is 'De Fabeltjeskrant' (English; "The Daily Fable"). The show originally ran from 1968 to 1992, with episodes only lasting about 5 minutes.
The show centers around Meneer de Uil ("Mister Owl"), who reads the news about all the events happening in het Grote Dierenbos ("The big animal forest"). According to Wikipedia, the first fables were based on the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Most of the characters of the series, on the other hand, where based on persons from the creator's neighbourhood.
There were a total of 60 characters part of the series, so here is a short list of some of those characters;
Meneer de Raaf = Sir Raven
Willem Bever = Willem Beaver
Juffrouw Ooievaar = Miss Stork
Momfer de Mol = Mole Momfer
Bor de Wolf = Wolf Bor
Zoef de Haas = Zoom the Hare
You can still find some episodes on Youtube;
Hallo, meneer de Uil - Intro Song
Playlist of 37 episodes
Source | De fabeltjeskrant-website
Dutch for all @dutchiedaisy - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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