Dutch Lesson 7

Personal Pronouns - To Be (Present) - High and Low Numbers - Chatham

Multatuli 2 (Latin: 'I have carried much') was the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker 2 who resigned from his position in the colonial bureaucracy of the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia) in protest over the exploitation of the indigenous population, in particular the free hand given local rulers in dealing with their subjects. Multatuli's 1860 novel Max Havelaar is a slightly fictionalized account of his experiences. It is still considered one of the best, if not the best book in Dutch literature. His sentences are a bit long, but his language is very lively. The book's first paragraph introduces the dour narrator of the first chapters Batavus Droogstoppel . Douwes Dekker's spelling is a bit idiosyncratic. For instance, he writes koffi for koffie, and Y for IJ, like in myn for mijn.

Multatuli: Max Havelaar
I am a dealer in coffee, and live at 37 Lauriergracht.	Ik ben makelaar in koffi, en woon op de Lauriergracht no 37.
I am not in the habit of writing novels, or things like that, and it has taken me some time, before I took the step of ordering a few extra reams of paper, and started the work that you, dear reader, have just picked up, and that you should read if you are a coffee dealer, and also if you're something else.	Het is myn gewoonte niet, romans te schryven, of zulke dingen, en het heeft dan ook lang geduurd, voor ik er toe overging een paar riem papier extra te bestellen, en het werk aan te vangen, dat gy, lieve lezer, zo-even in de hand hebt genomen, en dat ge lezen moet als ge makelaar in koffi zyt, of als ge wat anders zyt.
Not only that I've never written something like a novel, but I don't even like to read things like that, because I am a businessman.	Niet alleen dat ik nooit iets schreef dat naar een roman geleek, maar ik houd er zelfs niet van, iets dergelyks te lezen, omdat ik een man van zaken ben.
For years already I've wondered what the good of those things is, and I'm amazed at the impudence of poets and novelists spinning their tales of things that never happened, and usually cannot really happen.	Sedert jaren vraag ik my af, waartoe zulke dingen dienen, en ik sta verbaasd over de onbeschaamdheid waarmede een dichter of romanverteller u iets op de mouw durft spelden, dat nooit gebeurd is, en meestal niet gebeuren kan.
If I in my business -- I am a dealer in coffee, and live at 37 Lauriergracht -- would make a statement to a 'principal' -- a 'principal' is a seller of coffee -- that contained just a few of the fictions that constitute the main part of poems and novels, he would switch to Busselinck & Waterman right away.	Als ik in myn vak -- ik ben makelaar in koffi, en woon op de Lauriergracht no 37 -- aan een principaal -- een principaal is iemand die koffi verkoopt -- een opgave deed waarin maar een klein gedeelte der onwaarheden voorkwam, die in gedichten en romans de hoofdzaak uitmaken, zou hy terstond Busselinck & Waterman nemen.
They are dealers in coffee like me, but there's no need for you to know their address.	Dat zyn ook makelaars in koffi, doch hun adres behoeft ge niet te weten.
Therefore, I will not write novels or make other false statements.	Ik pas er dus wel op, dat ik geen romans schryf, of andere valse opgaven doe.
I have often noted that people who are engaged in such things usually end up badly.	Ik heb dan ook altyd opgemerkt dat mensen die zich met zo-iets inlaten, gewoonlyk slecht wegkomen.
I am 43 years old, and I have been going to the Exchange for twenty years, so I can step forward, if an experienced person is called for.	Ik ben drie en veertig jaren oud, bezoek sedert twintig jaren de beurs, en kan dus voor den dag treden, als men iemand roept die ondervinding heeft.
I have already seen many companies fail! (literally: 'houses fall')	Ik heb al wat huizen zien vallen!
And usually, when I looked into the causes, I thought the reason was the wrong direction given to most people in their early years.	En gewoonlyk, wanneer ik de oorzaken naging, kwam het me voor, dat die moesten gezocht worden in de verkeerde richting die aan de meesten gegeven was in hun jeugd.

Personal Pronouns

English Nominative	Subject (Nominative)	Possessive (Genitive)	Object (Accusative)	Reflexive
	"I am"	"my dog"	"remember me" "he hit me"	"be yourself" "defend yourself"
I	ik	mijn m'n	mij me	mezelf me		ik In the common self-depreciating mode, Dutchmen often say: "Ik, zei de gek" 2 ('I [me] said the crazy man')
you (singular, informal)	jij je	jouw je	jou je	jezelf je
he	hij (-ie )	zijn z'n	hem 'm	zichzelf zich
she	zij ze	haar (d'r )	haar	zichzelf zich
it	het 't
we	wij we	ons (for 'het' words) onze (for 'de' words)	ons	onszelf ons
you (plural, informal)	jullie	jullie	jullie	jezelf je
they	zij ze	hun	hen ze	zichzelf zich
you (polite)	U	Uw	U	zichzelf zich

As the table shows, in many instances Dutch has an -IJ and an -E ('voiceless E') form of the personal pronouns. The -IJ form refers more pointedly, but the difference is very small. For students it's perfectly alright to just use the -E form. Especially with second person singular informal that will save you some trouble. In almost every situation you can use je instead of jij, jouw or jou.
The dative form of 'ze' is 'hun' "Give it to them."
Jou and jouw are pronounced almost exactly the same (I seem to hear a very slight difference) - both end in a Dutch W sound; but U and Uw should not sound the same, there is NO Dutch W sound in 'U:'
Heeft Uw hond U gebeten? - Bent U gebeten door Uw hond? ('Did your dog bite you?' - 'Were you bitten by your dog?')
Het is not used as often as its English equivalent 'it'; only for the abstract, like
"Het is tien uur," (It's ten o'clock.)
Het is often shortened to 't - note the vowel change from 'short E' to 'voiceless E.' (As we've seen in Lesson 4, 'het' is also the article for 'neutral' words.)
" 't Is mooi weer." (It's nice weather.)
'It is said that ...' is best said in Dutch as "Men zegt dat ..." (Dutch 'men' is an occasional 'they.')
In the fragment I read above, Douwes Dekker uses the Flemish gij and ge for 'you,' second person singular informal.

Zijn = to Be (Present Tense)

zijn	to be - present tense
zijn ik ben jij bent hij is wij zijn jullie zijn zij zijn U bent	to be I am you are [informal, singular] he is we are you are [informal, plural] they are you are [polite]		ik ben blij jij bent blij hij is blij wij zijn blij jullie zijn blij zij zijn blij	I am happy you are happy he is happy we are happy you are happy they are happy		ben ik blij? ben jij blij? is hij blij? zijn wij blij? zijn jullie blij? zijn zij blij?	am I happy? are you happy? is he happy? are we happy? are you happy? are they happy?
			U bent blij bent U blij?	you are happy are you happy?

In question mode, Dutch turns subject and verb around, like English sometimes does. Note that in question mode the T-ending for je/jij (you informal singular) is dropped, but not for 'U' (you polite singular.)
ben je wakker? ('are you awake?' [you - singular informal]) - bent U wakker? ('are you awake?' [you - singular polite])

Ik ben ziek ('I'm sick') hij is laat 2 ('he is late') hij is vroeg 2 ('he is early') het is laat ('it is late') Ben je ziek? ('Are you sick?') Ben je boos? 2 ('Are you angry?') Ik ben verkouden ('I have a cold')

Ik ben niet ziek 2 3 ('I am not sick') 't Is niet waar! ('It's not true!' - Usually ironic, like 'You don't say!') Er zijn geen bergen in Nederland ('There are no mountains in Holland') Ik ben moe 2 ('I am tired') Ik ben erg moe 2 ('I am very tired') Ik ben heel erg moe 2 ('I am extremely tired') Ik ben verschrikkelijk moe 2 ('I am terribly tired')

wie wat waar 2

who what where

wanneer hoe waarom 2

when how why

Wie is de mooiste in het land? Sneeuwwitje is de mooiste in het land.	('Who is the prettiest in the land?') ('Snow White is the prettiest in the land.')
Wat is dat? Het is een bidsprinkhaan.	('What's that?') ('It's a praying [grasshopper] mantis.')
Waar is de uitgang? Hier is de ingang. Daar is de uitgang. De uitgang is daar.	('Where is the exit?') ('The entry is here.') ('There is the exit') ('The exit is [over] there.')
Wanneer ben je jarig? Wanneer is hij jarig?	('When is your birthday?') more Birthday ('When is his birthday? [Where is his birthday suit?]')
Hoe lang ben je? Ik ben 1 meter 80.	('How tall are you?') ('I am 1 meter 80 centimeters tall.' = 5'11")
Hoe is het weer? 2 Het is koud.	('How is the weather?') ('It is cold.')
Waarom ben je boos? "Daarom." 2	('Why are you angry?') ('"Because."')

Wie is er aan de beurt?	('Whose turn is it?' 'Who's Next?')
Ben ik aan de beurt?	('Is it my turn?')	ik ben	('[I am] it's my turn')
Jij bent aan de beurt	('It's your turn')	jij bent 2	('[you are] it's your turn')	This is one of the few places where jij is better than je.
chess	cards and dice	zij is	('[she is] it's her turn')	Like in the line above, here zij is better than ze.

Because there are already so many things to learn in this lesson, there will be no vocabulary section. Dutch fields:

The High and Low Numbers

10,000 tienduizend (10.000)

100,000 honderdduizend (100.000)

1,000,000 miljoen (1.000.000) 2

1,000,000,000 miljard (1.000.000.000)

below zero onder nul

-1 min één

Chatham

From about 1600 to 1750, Holland was a major power, with the largest merchant fleet of any nation, and the highest Gross National Product per capita in the world. Dutchmen call the 17th Century De Gouden Eeuw ('The Golden Century') - even though in the first half we were still at war with Spain, and in the third quarter there were three wars with Great Britain.
Trade was the source of prosperity, and it was in part based on technological advances. Wood for shipbuilding was sawn in windmills, and an efficient Dutch ship design called fluit ('flute') was cheaper to build and could be handled by a smaller crew than other vessels of that time. Also, Dutch fishermen had discovered that in preparing herring for storage (haring kaken - removing the gills and innards, and salting) the taste of the fish was greatly improved by leaving in the pancreas (alvleesklier ) - its enzymes would do something beneficial to the fish meat.

In trade and shipping, the Dutch were competing with the English. The 1651 English 'Act of Navigation' said that foreign ships could only transport their own country's products to England. The law was meant to limit Dutch international shipping. An important goal of the Anglo-Dutch wars was damaging the opponent's trade and economy, by blockades, piracy and attacks on fishermen.
The first 'Anglo-Dutch Sea War,' De Eerste Engelse Zeeoorlog (1652-54 - only four years after the Dutch war with Spain ended) started with an incident near Dover about Dutch ships refusing to lower the flag and acknowledge English supremacy. In general the war did not go well for the Dutch, despite an English legend that admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp 2 at one point had a broom nailed to the top of his main mast to show he'd 'cleared' the British Navy from the English Channel, to ensure safe passage for Dutch shipping. After Tromp fell in battle, Michiel de Ruyter was appointed head of the Dutch navy, and he remained in command for the next two wars. Some other admirals: Witte de With and Jan Evertsen .

De Tweede Engelse Zeeoorlog (1665-67) was won by the Dutch, after in the last year the Dutch fleet entered the river Thames, and a small squadron sailed up the Medway and destroyed or captured much of the British fleet at Chatham. Every Dutch schoolage child (schoolboy) knows about the heavy chain that was blocking the way (it was probably a combination of chains and rafts); some say ship De Vreede ('peace') of Captain Jan van Brakel cleared it, but others say the chain was actually broken by his lieutenant Jan Daniëls van Rijn in the fire ship Pro Patria (Latin: 'For My Country.') The English were down because of the Great Fire of London and a plague outbreak; still a glorious feat of Dutch arms. In the negotiations, Holland traded Dutch New York (already occupied by the English) for the South American colony of Suriname 2 (its capital is Paramaribo 2 ) which looked more profitable at the time.
Chatham raid paintings at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - Chatham Raid websites: English - Dutch

In the first year of De Derde Engelse Zeeoorlog (1672-74), a British-French alliance came close to crushing the Dutch Republic. In Dutch, 1672 is called het rampjaar ('the disastrous year.') The leader of the Dutch government Raadspensionaris Johan de Witt was lynched by a mob, and to stop the invading French army much land had to be flooded. Luckily, the enemy alliance fell apart, and Holland did not lose this war. Peace was made with the French in 1678. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam paintings of sea battles of the Third War: 1 - 2

In 1689 the Dutch stadhouder Willem III and his wife Mary (daughter of English King James II) became King and Queen of England ('William and Mary') and relations between the countries were better for the next 100 years, until De Vierde Engelse Zeeoorlog (1781-1784), over Dutch support for the American Revolution, mainly the providing of gunpowder and loans. There were no great sea battles, but England choked off Dutch commerce.
Holland was (and still is) a small country. Most of its warships were refitted merchantmen, not earning money in wartime. In the long run the Dutch were no match for the professional navies of larger nations like England.

Imagine for a moment that New York had remained Dutch in 1667. It would have greatly changed the course of the American revolution. Would the Dutch have cooperated with the English to suppress the colonies' bid for independence, thus depriving the Americans of the support we gave them in the real history - or would New Amsterdam have become the revolutionaries' safe haven? But in that scenario England might have attacked Holland in Europe more seriously.
A nice anecdote of the 1672-78 war with the French:
At the French headquarters on the water's edge a delegation of the Dutch government was expected for negotiations. A small rowboat aproached, with stern men dressed in black like church ministers. They sat down in the grass, eating bread and cheese. I imagine the French officers wore wigs and fancy colorful uniforms, and were thinking this was an advance guard or a bunch of translators, but when the Dutchmen were done with their lunch they said they were the representatives of the government and let's get down to business.
If Dutch resistance had been broken in the third war, would the victors have divided the spoils: the Rhine as France's northern border, and the remainder an English toehold on the Continent ('The United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Holland')?
In the Battle of Solebay of the Third War, Van Brakel's ship and the Earl of Sandwich's Royal James had their rigging tangled up for two hours, imagine: fighting and trying to disentangle at the same time; Van Rijn later set fire to the English ship.
More Dutch Sailors & Ships - Kentish Knock

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