Dutch/Lesson 8

les 8 Er en de bijwoordelijke voornaamwoorden ~ Er and the adverbial pronouns Koffie zetten Grammar: Pronominal replacement Grammar: Use of the locative er Gesprek 8 gesprek8 Marjo? Ja, wat is er? Is er al yet koffie? Nee ik heb er nog geen gezet koffie zetten: brew coffee. Nou, dan doe ik dat wel even. Zijn er zakjes filter bags? Ja, in de kast cupboard, pantry. Zie je de broodtrommel bread box? Ze liggen er vlak just onder under. Heb je er ook nog as well een pak pack, package stroopwafels syrup waffles, a delicacy bij erbij: to go with it? Ja, er zijn er zelfs even twee. d kast cupboard d broodtrommel bread box vlak plane, level; right h pak pack, package; suit thumb|250px|stroopwafels stroopwafelsIn case you like baking here is a recipe gesprek 8 Marjo? Marjo? Ja, wat is er? Yes, what is up? Is er al koffie? Is there coffee yet? Nee ik heb er nog geen gezet. No, I did not make any yet. Nou, dan doe ik dat wel even. Zijn er zakjes? OK, then I'll make some. Are there any bags? Ja, in de kast. Zie je de broodtrommel? Ze liggen er vlak onder. Yes, in the cupboard. You see the breadbox? They are right underneath. Heb je er ook nog een pak koekjes bij? Do you have cookies to go with it? Ja, er zijn er zelfs twee. Yes, there are even two packs. Grammatica 8 ~ Er and the adverbial pronouns Locative adverbs The word er is one of the most ubiquitous words in the Dutch language and often rather hard to translate, because it does not have an exact counterpart in most other languages, French being an exception with the words y and en. Compare: Dutch English Type Pronoun Locative adverb Pronoun Locative adverbPersonalhet heter erit??Demonstrative (close)dit dithier hierthishereDemonstrative (far)dat datdaar daarthatthereRel./Interrogativewat watwaar waarwhatwhereIndefiniteiets ietsergens ergenssomethingsomewhereNegative indefiniteniets nietsnergens nergensnothingnowhereUniversalalles allesoveral overal everything everywhere Er relates to more specific indications of place like here, there, where, or somewhere in a similar way as the word it does to the more specific this, that or what. The word is a kind of locative wildcard. In computer terms you could say that er is *ere, with * being a wildcard for h-,th- or wh-. Another way of putting it is that er is a clitic (weak) form of hier or daar. Indeed it never carries emphasis. Historically, however, the word only partly originated as a weakening of hier or daar. In part it also reflects an old genitive of the pronoun "het". The two sources have coalesced so strongly that they cannot be distinguished anymore. In many cases where Dutch uses er, English will resort to a more specific there: Is er koffie – Is there coffee? Ken je Londen? Ja, ik ben er geweest. - Do you know London? Yes, I have been there This is also true in the relatively few cases that English uses words like like thereof, therefore, thereafter etc. Dutch will distinguish a more general (clitic) ervan, ervoor, erna from a more specific (accentuated) daarvan, daarvoor and daarna. In most grammars they are called "pronominal adverbs", because they have a dual nature: they share characteristics of adverbs as well as pronouns. The name is somewhat unfortunate however. Pronouns play a major role in a language's grammar and syntaxis; they are the main course of it. Adverbs are more likes spices added to the course. Added to a sentence they play a minor grammatical role at best. Words like "ervan" etc. however do play a major role in Dutch grammar. It is therefore better to invert the name "pronominal adverbs" and call them "adverbial pronouns" instead. Adverbial pronouns In English adverbial pronouns like therein or hereby are a remnant from the past. They are quite old and occur in most Germanic languages, both of the Western and the Northern (Scandinavian) group. However, adverbial pronouns are much more prominent in Dutch than in English or the other Germanic languages. Their formation is still an active mechanism: they are productive. If anything their use is actually increasing (probably due to the gender problem). They form an important part of the grammar and have to be mastered to speak the language properly. Adverbial pronouns are commonly used in Dutch to replace the combination of preposition + pronoun, particularly if the latter is an inanimate it or them: of it → thereof = ervan for it → therefore = ervoor Notice how the elements swap place: the prepositional part moves to the end. This is true in both languages. While rare in English, in Dutch this replacement/swap is not just common, in many cases it is mandatory . Pronominal replacement In the written language it is considered incorrect, even somewhat disrespectful to apply pronominal replacement to people (animate nouns), but in the spoken language it is already quite common: after her = na haar (instead of erna) for them = voor hen (instead of ervoor) In all other cases pronominal replacement is frequent or even mandatory. It is a major way of avoiding m/f gender references for inanimate nouns, because er is genderless. This means that replacement can also be applied to common gender words that do not really have a personal pronoun to refer them by. The most common pronominal replacements (from the table above) are: typenounpronounpron. adv.pers.van het huis → (van het)* ervan→ ervandem. prox.van dit huis → van dit, van deze hiervan→ hiervandem. dist.van dat huis → van dat, van die daarvan→ daarvaninterrog.van welk huis → (van wat)*, van welk(e)waarvan → waarvanrelat.van het huis dat.. → (van hetwelk(e))*waarvan → waarvanindef.van een ding →van iets → ergens vannegat.van geen ding →van niets→ nergens vanunivers.van alle dingen →van alles→ overal van (...)*: In this case the replacement is so common that not using the replacement is simply bad Dutch. Notice that if the replaced pronoun is personal (het), demonstrative (dit, dat) or interrogative/relative (wat) the resulting adverbial pronoun is written as one word (ervan, hiervan, daarvaan, waarvan). In other cases an adverbial expression with two separate adverbs results. Drill 8-1. Pronominal replacement Pronominal replacement drill File:Nl-Dutch-ch8-pronominal replacement-drill.ogg Replacement drill. Replace the following expressions by the correct proniminal adverb. Run the audio to hear the results. E.g.: "in welk huis?" would be replaced by "waarin?" in het huis – in the house op het dak – on the roof tussen de planten – between the plants naast een boom – beside a tree tussen huizen – between houses onder de deken – under the blanket in een boom – in a tree op dat dak – on that roof in dit huis – in this house naast deze boom – next to this tree onder deze daken – under these roofs voor deze planten – before these plants achter de boom – behind the tree achter deze huizen – behind these houses op die boom – on that tree naast deze garage – next to that garage onder dat dak – under that roof achter een huis – behind a house achter die boom – behind that tree in die boeken – in those books tussen die dekens – between the blankets in welk huis? - in which house? naast welke boom? - beside which tree? voor welke planten – for which plants? in die garage – in that garage onder welke dekens? - under which blankets? naast dat huis – next to that house op welk dak? - on which roof? onder een boom – under a tree You can do this exercise a number of different ways. This is one: First work out on paper which adverbial pronoun to expect Then run the audio to check your results Make sure you repeat in the pauses Repeat the drill without looking at the text Some people may prefer to run the audio without the visual text first. Remember: learning by ear is superior to the visual way. The exercise also introduces/ reinforces some vocabulary. Make a list of the nouns used with their proper definite articles te ensure you memorize their gender. Translating its by replacement In English it is common to use the possessive pronoun its to refer to a noun that indicates a thing. In Dutch, an adverbial pronouns like ervan is used instead, again representing a convenient way to avoid the gender issue: This tale is nice. Its beginning is spectacular. Deze vertelling is leuk. Het begin ervan is spectaculair. (Yes, please..) Deze vertelling is leuk. Haar begin is spectaculair. (No, please..) Yes, in principle the latter is correct. A word in -ing is feminine, but who remembers?Actually in Flanders people remember quite well whether a word is masculine or feminine and there haar could very well be used. Occasionally a writer will try to dazzle the reader with this kind of superior knowledge, often only to get it wrong... Please use the adverbial ervan, especially if the noun is inanimate. This is true for neuter nouns as well Dit verhaal is leuk. Het begin ervan is spectaculair (Yes, please..) Dit verhaal is leuk. Zijn begin is spectaculair. (No, please..) The latter is strictly speaking correct Dutch, but a neuter (inanimate) possessive zijn is so uncommon that it is better avoided. Possessives like zijn and haar are more and more reserved for animate masculine and animate feminine nouns (person, pets) and indicate natural rather than grammatical gender, just like the personal pronouns hij and zij. Formation: prepositional adverbs An adverbial pronoun is formed from the locative adverb that corresponds to the replaced pronoun + the preposition in adverbial form in reverse order. preposition+pronoun → [locative adverb+prepositional adverb] = Adverbial pronoun. Usually the adverbial form of the preposition or prepositional adverb is identical to the preposition itself: (van het)* → ervan (tussen het)* → ertussen But this is not always the case: (met het)* → ermee (arch. ermede) (tot het)* → ertoe Adverbial pronouns can be formed from most prepositions. Words like ertussenin (lit. thereinbetween) or ergens achter (lit. somewhere behind: behind something) or nergens onderuit (lit. nowhere from under out) or nergens anders mee (lit. nowhere else with: with nothing else) do not raise any eyebrows in Dutch. A few prepositional adverbs do not have a corresponding prepositions: eraf (off of it) erheen (expresses a direction: to) Conversely, some prepositions (like via, behalve, sinds etc.) do not have a corresponding prepositional adverb. This makes it difficult to use them in relative clauses or in combination with it. Compare: Dit is de weg waarlangs ik naar huis fiets. Dit is de weg via dewelke ik naar huis fiets. This is the road along which I ride my bike on the way home. Because via does not have a prepositional adverb one is forced to use a relative pronoun like dewelke that is more and more experienced as awkward and archaic, because in most constructions it is replaced (langs dewelke → waarlangs). Prepositional adverbs also play a major role in the formation of separable verbs as we shall see in lesson 10. Pronominal replacement Replace—if possible—the following combinations of preposition + pronoun by the corresponding adverbial pronouns. In some cases the stated combination is not acceptable and its replacement is mandatory van dit met dat in wat? om alles tot niets via dit buiten het* langs die over dewelke boven het uit* achter in hetwelk met niets anders onder deze tussen iets binnen dit het binnen* (movement) zonder het* van dit hiervan met dat daarmee in wat? waarin? om alles overal om tot niets nergens toe via dit (not replaced, usually avoided) buiten het* erbuiten langs die daarlangs over dewelke waarover boven het uit* erbovenuit achter in hetwelk waarachterin met niets anders nergens anders mee onder deze hieronder tussen iets ergens tussen binnen dit hierbinnen het binnen* (movement) ernaarbinnen zonder het erzonder The latter is quite common in the South, still avoided in the North but gaining acceptance: adverbial pronoun are productive in Dutch. Separation To further confuse the enemy, adverbial pronouns are usually split apart in the sentence. Compare: He has a remedy for it. Hij heeft een remedie *(voor het). Hij heeft een remedie ervoor. Hij heeft er een remedie voor. The first translation is unacceptable. The second one is awkward, the third one is what most people would say. In the case of the preposition van (of), the van-part may be omitted, giving the word er a partitive flavor: He has seven of them. Hij heeft zeven *(van ze). Hij heeft zeven ervan. Hij heeft er zeven van. Hij heeft er zeven. The four translations are unacceptable, awkward, reasonable and most common respectively. The partitive flavor extends to the negative: Is er koffie – Is there coffee? Ik heb er nog geen (van) gezet – I have there(of) yet none made – I haven't made any yet. Sometimes the two parts of the adverbial pronoun can end up quite far apart. Notice what happens to "by it" (door *het) => "erdoor": Lance Armstrong heeft kanker gehad. Lance Armstrong had cancer. Hij heeft zich himself er echter however, blijkens as evidenced by zijn zeven opeenvolgende consecutive overwinningen victories in de Tour de France, op geen enkele manier in no single manner in zijn loopbaan in his career als 's werelds genitive: the world's sterkste strongest wielrenner cyclist door laten let, allow weerhouden keep from, thwart. However, given his seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France, he did not in any way allow himself to be thwarted by it in his career as the world's strongest cyclist. Getting used to understanding such sentences, let alone producing them in speech, takes a lot of practice. Word order diagram As an exercise: write down both the Dutch and the English sentence and draw arrows to identify all the parts of this sentence to see how different the word order is. (Don't worry: we will deal with word order bit by bit). thumb|The difference in word order|1200px Exercise 8.1 Replace the object by a adverbial pronoun: e.g. Het boek ligt in de kast → Het boek ligt erin. use of er Deze wielrenner behaalt een overwinning in de Giro d'Italia Het is niet eenvoudig in deze wedstrijd een overwinning te behalen Van welke wedstrijd is hij ook kampioen? Zij doet in de keuken koffie in het zakje. Koekjes zijn onder kinderen altijd een groot succes. Het verschil tussen Amerikaanse en Nederlandse koekjes is niet groot. Achter geen enkel werkwoord moet je een uitgang -ing schrijven. Je schrijft altijd een punt boven een i. Hij ging met de trein naar London. Deze wielrenner behaalt een overwinning in de Giro d'Italia Deze wielrenner behaalt er een overwinning in. Het is niet eenvoudig in deze wedstrijd een overwinning te behalen. Het is niet eenvoudig hier een overwinning in te behalen. Van welke wedstrijd is hij ook kampioen? Waar is hij ook kampioen van? Zij doet in de keuken koffie in het zakje. Zij doet er in de keuken koffie in. Koekjes zijn onder kinderen altijd een groot succes. Koekjes zijn er altijd een groot succes onder. Het verschil tussen Amerikaanse en Nederlandse koekjes is niet groot. Het verschil ertussen is niet groot. Het verschil is niet groot ertussen. Het verschil is er niet groot tussen. Er is niet veel verschil tussen. Achter geen enkel werkwoord moet je een uitgang -ing schrijven. Nergens moet je een uitgang -ing achter schrijven. Je schrijft altijd een punt boven een i. Je schrijft er altijd een punt boven. Hij ging met de trein naar London. Hij ging ermee naar London. Hij ging er naar London mee. Remark: Please do not worry too much about the word order at this point. As you can see it is quite irregular and sometimes there are various possibilities. It is one of the hardest aspects of West-Germanic languages (other than English). Unfortunately, for English speakers they lost that after 1066 or so. The preponderance of separable adverbial pronouns in Dutch only acerbates the situation. It is perhaps a consolation that even our German neighbors are baffled by this particular aspect of Dutch grammar-and-syntax. If you must know: In general the locative part er tends to follow the persoonsvorm -the conjugated part of the verb- whereas the prepositional part (like mee) moves to the end of the sentence. This is true for 1,4,5,8,9. The prepositional part may have to compete with other parts of the verbal expression for a spot as in 2 or 7. In questions or emphatic expressions the locative may precede the persoonsvorm (see 3,7). In 6 the position can be influenced by the verbal noun verschil as ertussen refers to ..difference between.. Exercise 8.2 Translate the above sentences into English in both forms. Drill 8.2 Pronominal replacement with separation. Audio drill File:Nl-pronominal-replacement-2.ogg Replace the prepositional expression by a adverbial pronoun. Then make the sentence negative: E.g.: Ik snij met het mes – ik snij ermee – ik snij er niet mee (Notice that the adverb separates!) Ik kijk naar de eenden. Hij liep achter de wagen. Hij betaalde met euros. De kat ligt onder dat bed. Op welk bed ligt de hond? Je kunt het aan die lichten zien. Hij hield de paraplu boven zijn hoofd De mensen staan op deze brug De kinderen werken aan dat huiswerk Hij luistert naar deze opname I look at the ducks He walked behind the wagon He paid in euros The cat is under that bed On which bed is the dog? You can see it from those lights He kept the umbrella over his head The people are standing on this bridge The children are working on that homework He listens to this recording Other uses of "er" Impersonal passives and indefinite nouns Vocabularyworden wordenwerd werdgeworden gewordenaux. passive; to becomebakken bakkenbakte baktegebakken gebakkento bakelachen lachenlachte lachtegelachen gelachento laugh Many Dutch verbs can be used in the passive voice, which we'll discuss in lesson 12 in greater detail. In fact in Dutch the passive voice is more recognizable and more common than in English. It uses the verb worden. Ik bak het brood – I bake the bread Het brood wordt door mij gebakken – The bread is baked by me. Here "het brood" is a definite noun and the passive centers around it as the object. In more indefinite cases Dutch often uses an impersonal passive initiated with the adverb er. Er wordt hier brood gebakken – (There is bread baking going on here) Er worden pannenkoeken gebakken – (Pancakes are baked here) Er werd een eend gezien – (A duck was seen) Notice, the indefinite "brood" "pannenkoeken" and "een eend" instead of the definite "het brood, de pannenkoeken, de eend". In an impersonal "er" construction the definite articles "de, het" cannot be used. For nouns of a collective nature like bread, grain, water etc. or for plurals there is no article at all. (If definite and indefinite nouns present a problem because they are not part of your mother tongue, you could review: Dutch/Lesson 4/Use of articles). The active forms of these sentences are not very common in Dutch. They involve the indefinite pronoun men (people, they, one) that is seldom used anymore. Men bakt hier brood – (People bake bread here) Men bakt pannenkoeken – (People are baking pancakes) Men heeft een eend gezien – (People saw a duck) English will opt for the active form more readily in this case, but in Dutch the passive sounds much more natural. In fact the active sentences involving the pancakes or the duck sounds very artificial, like badly translated French: on a vu un canard. Colloquially people would rather use a clitic third person plural ze: Ze bakken hier brood – (They are baking bread here) Ze bakken pannenkoeken – (They are baking pancakes) Ze hebben een eend gezien – (They saw a duck) In the negative the negative indefinite article geen is used. Er wordt hier geen brood gebakken Er worden geen pannenkoeken gebakken Er werd geen eend gezien Impersonal passives can even be formed from many verbs that do not have an object: Er werd gelachen – (Laughter erupted, people laughed) Notice that in this sentence there is no subject if we continue to call er an adverb. Some grammars will therefore call it a dummy subject, but most do not. English does not really have a direct equivalent of this type of sentence. It necessitates either an active translation or some other creative rendition. This adds to the fact that the use of the word "er" is a considerable difficulty for people learning Dutch, because such sentences are quite common in it. In the negative niet is used in this case Er werd niet gelachen – (Nobody laughed) Impersonal passives Make these sentences into impersonal passive using "er" Het museum wordt gesloten Het zilver wordt gewogen Het zilver wordt niet gewogen De trombone wordt gespeeld Men studeert Men studeert niet De spiegel wordt gecontroleerd De spiegel wordt niet gecontroleerd De tulpen worden niet gestuurd Het verhaal wordt verteld Er wordt een museum gesloten Er wordt zilver gewogen Er wordt geen zilver gewogen Er wordt (een) trombone gespeeld Er wordt gestudeerd Er wordt niet gestudeerd Er wordt een spiegel gecontroleerd Er wordt geen spiegel gecontroleerd Er worden geen tulpen gestuurd Er wordt een verhaal verteld Notice that trombone can be treated either as collective or not, but the meaning is a bit different. In case you hear one trombone, in the other you hear trombone music. Woordenschat 8: prepositions and their adverbs These are some of the most common prepositions and their adverbial forms. Have a close look at the examples to get a gist of how they are used. Unfortunately the use of prepositions is usually hard to compare from one language to the other. Which preposition to use when is often pretty idiomatic and best learned by looking at larger utterances. We will expand on this topic in Les 17 preposition prep. adverb translation example ― af afoff van het dak af – off of the roof ― heen heen (indicates direction) waar gaat dat heen? - where (whither) is that going?met metmee mee, mede with met melk – with milk tot tot toe toe to, till, until tot maandag – till Mondayvan van of, from twee van hen – two of themdoor door by, through door hem gemaakt – made by himdoor het raam – through the windowvoor voor for, before voor het concért – for the concertvóór het concert – before the concertachter achter behind achter zijn rug – behind his backtussen tussen between tussen twee bedrijven – between two actonder onder under, beneath onder de dekens – under the blanketsover over over over het hek – over the fenceop op on, upon op de tafel – on the tableboven boven above boven het water – above the waterna na after na het skiën – after skiingnaar naar to naar Amerika – to Americazonder zonder north: ―south: zonderwithout zonder suiker – without sugarsinds sinds ― since sinds de oorlog – since WW IIvanwege vanwege ― because of vanwege ziekte – because of illnessvia via ― via via Amsterdam – via Amsterdambehalve behalve ― except behalve in dat geval – except in that case Dutch prepositions are clearly a mixed bag. The older prepositions like "op", "van" etc. may very well have developed from their corresponding adverbs, in some cases getting altered in the process (mede -> met). A few like "af" and "heen" never underwent this process. The newer prepositions were either borrowed as such, like "via" from Latin or formed from a noun like "vanwege" = "van" + "weg" with a dative ending -e. They never underwent the reverse process to form an adverb and cannot undergo pronominal replacement. "Zonder" is an interesting exception. In Flanders adverbial pronouns like "waarzonder" are quite acceptable, but in the North they are not (yet?). There also exist compound prepositional adverbs, their adverbial pronouns can at times split in up to three parts. They will be covered in lesson 23. Woordenschat 8-2 de overwinningFile:nl-overwinning.oggvictory de loopbaanFile:nl-loopbaan.oggcareer het koekjeFile:nl-koekje.ogg cookie (loanword of New York/Dutch origin) de wielrennerFile:nl-wielrenner.ogg cyclist het wielFile:nl-wiel.ogg wheel de zakFile:nl-zak.ogg bag het zakjeFile:nl-zakje.ogg baggie de koffieFile:nl-koffie.ogg coffee de wereldFile:nl-wereld.ogg world zettenFile:nl-zetten.ogg to put koffie zetten to make coffee weerhoudenFile:nl-weerhouden.ogg to keep from, to thwart schrijvenFile:nl-schrijven.ogg to write behalenFile:nl-behalen.ogg to score, to obtain echterFile:nl-echter.ogg though, however evenFile:nl-even.ogg quickly, with no effort, even alFile:nl-al.ogg already nog niet not yet geenFile:nl-geen.ogg no geen enkel not a single eenvoudigFile:nl-eenvoudig.ogg simple See also :nl:wikt:Categorie:Voornaamwoordelijk bijwoord in het Nederlands Quizlet The vocabulary of the lesson can be trained at Quizlet (47 terms) Progress made If you have studied this lesson well you should to able to understand and use Dutch adverbial pronouns know a number of basic prepositions and prepositional adverbs Cumulative term count Cycle 1 : 579 terms Lesson 5 : 87 Lesson 6 : 124 Lesson 7 : 163 Lesson 8 : 47 Total number 1000 terms Congratulations! You have reached the mark of one thousand vocabulary terms! Appendix