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Apparently you’ve succesfully finished lesson one, so now we can continue with the second lesson. In this lesson you’ll learn how to describe certain objects. First of all, we are going to teach you articles. In the previous lesson you learned how to say “He is father” but that sounds a little bit tarzan-like. Wouldn’t it sound better if you could say “He is a father” or “He is the father” ? That’s what you’ll learn now. Take a look at these Dutch sentences:
Hij is een vader | He is a father |
Zij is de moeder | She is the mother |
Het is de stoel | It is the chair |
Het is een stoel | It is a chair |
Het is een huis | It is a house |
Het is het huis | It is the house |
It looks pretty logical at the beginning. You’ll quickly notice that “een” is the correct Dutch translation of “a” and “an”. But what’s the correct translation of “the”? You see two different Dutch word for “the”, you see “de” and “het”, but which one is the right one? Of course they are both right, otherwise we wouldn’t show them to you.
Gender
But how can it be possible that the word “the” has two translations in Dutch? This has to do with the difficult concept of noun gender, a concept not known in English but is in almost every other language.
In Dutch, the definite articles “de” and “het” both mean “the” in English, but they are used in different contexts depending on the gender of the noun they accompany.
- “De”: This definite article is used with common gender nouns (de woorden), which include most masculine and feminine nouns. For example, “de kat” (the cat) and “de tafel” (the table) are both common gender nouns.
- “Het”: This definite article is used with neuter gender nouns (het woorden), which typically include objects, concepts, or abstract nouns. For example, “het huis” (the house) and “het boek” (the book) are both neuter gender nouns.
The gender of Dutch nouns is not always predictable and often needs to be learned along with the vocabulary. However, there are some general rules and patterns that can help determine the gender of nouns. For instance, many nouns referring to living beings (such as people and animals) are common gender (de), while most nouns ending in “-je” are neuter gender (het). Additionally, there are some irregularities and exceptions in the language.
The use of “de” and “het” in Dutch is an essential aspect of grammar that learners need to grasp in order to correctly articulate sentences and express ideas in Dutch.
Well, this noun gender concept might have confused you a bit. For English speaking people it can be a weird concept. But if English is not your native language, then it’s most likely that you are already familiar with noun gender. From now on we will also mention the article of a noun in our vocabulary lists. Note that the indefinite article (“a” and “an”) is gender independent and is always translated with “een”.
Hebben – to have
In this lesson we’ll also introduce another irregular Dutch verb, the verb “hebben”, which means “to have”. Take a look at the full conjugation and translation of this verb:
Ik heb | I have |
Jij hebt | You have |
Hij/Zij/Het heeft | He/she/it has |
Wij hebben | We have |
Jullie hebben | You have |
Zij hebben | They have |
Now you’ve learned a new verb, memorize it.
Summary
In this lesson you’ve learned the concept of noun gender, what articles to use, and another irregular verb.
Vocabulary
Learn the following words. The words of the previous lesson are mentioned again, but this time we also show what definite article to use.
Vocabulary
de vader | the father |
de moeder | the mother |
de oma | the grandmother |
de opa | the grandfather |
de stoel | the chair |
het huis | the house |
de tafel | the table |
de kat | the cat |
de hond | the dog |
het bot | the bone |
het dier | the animal |
het gebouw | the building |
Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
- De kat
- Het huis
- De auto
- Het boek
- De hond
- De tafel
- De stoel
- De fiets
- De telefoon
- De computer
- De bloem
- De lamp
- De vork
- De lepel
- Het bord
- De pen
- De school
- De klok
- De deur
- Het raam
Solution of Exercise A:
- De kat (the cat)
- Het huis (the house)
- De auto (the car)
- Het boek (the book)
- De hond (the dog)
- De tafel (the table)
- De stoel (the chair)
- De fiets (the bicycle)
- De telefoon (the phone)
- De computer (the computer)
- De bloem (the flower)
- De lamp (the lamp)
- De vork (the fork)
- De lepel (the spoon)
- Het bord (the plate)
- De pen (the pen)
- De school (the school)
- De klok (the clock)
- De deur (the door)
- Het raam (the window)
Solutions
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