Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar

Bruce Donaldson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317217985
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Langues et linguistique
• Subtopic: Langues

Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference to modern Dutch grammar.

The volume is organized to promote a thorough understanding, and offers a stimulating analysis of the complexities of the language, while providing clear explanations. Throughout, the emphasis is on Dutch as used by present-day native-speakers. An extensive index and numbered paragraphs provide readers with easy access to the information they require.

Concentrating on the real patterns of use in Dutch through accessible descriptions of the language, Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar is an essential reference source for the learner of Dutch.

Chapter 1
Pronunciation
Uitspraak

It is assumed that anyone using this book is acquainted with the basics of Dutch pronunciation and thus they are not dealt with here, but there are certain idiosyncrasies and variants of pronunciation that may be new even to the more advanced student and they are dealt with here. In addition, a few tips on things to look out for are discussed.

It is true that the pronunciation of Dutch is not particularly easy for many English-speaking beginners to master. It is commonly believed by the Dutch that it is the consonants that constitute the difficulty, and in particular ch and g. Some students do have trouble with this sound for a while, as well as with r, but the real traps lie in the vowels, and in particular in the diphthongs.

1.1 Vowels

Possibly the one sound that virtually all English-speaking people have trouble coming to grips with is ui [œy]. Pay careful attention to how this diphthong is articulated.

The distinction between ij/ei on the one hand and ee on the other is also difficult for many. It is very important to distinguish clearly between these two sounds as they are of course phonemic¹ and failure to do so can lead to a breakdown in communication, e.g. geil ‘randy’ and geel ‘yellow’, krijg ‘get’ and kreeg ‘got’. These two sounds are particularly prone to being confused when they occur in close proximity to each other, e.g. Pronunciation gelegenheid ‘opportunity’, de hele lijst ‘the whole list’.

After some contact with the living language you may notice that quite a lot of Dutch people pronounce the short a in words like hand, land and man in a way that resembles an o to an English-speaking ear. You do not need to copy it, but you may become aware of it.

The short e in Dutch is usually pronounced [æ] not [ε], although the latter sound does occur; in other words like the vowel in ‘fat’, not that in ‘bed’. Failure to distinguish between the vowel in Dutch bed and English ‘bed’ in this way is of only minor importance. This quite subtle difference between the languages accounts, for example, for why the Dutch might occasionally write (and always pronounce) the English loanword tram as trem, as [æ] and [ε] are allophones in Dutch; the clear difference to an English ear in the vowels of ‘Henk’ and ‘Hank’ is hardly audible to a Dutch ear.

Some Dutch people still make a distinction in the way they pronounce the short o in certain words, e.g. as in hok and bok; the vowel in the former is more or less the same as in the English word ‘hock’ (i.e. more open), but that in the latter is closer to the vowel in the English ‘born’ (i.e. more closed). In the west of the country, where Standard Dutch has evolved, it is no longer usual to make this distinction and one can apply the vowel of hok across the board. So if you hear people using the vowel of bok (the distinction is a historical one) do not feel obliged to follow suit.

The vowel sound in the adjectival endings -ig and -lijk is identical; it is a schwa [ə], i.e. it is pronounced the same as the weak, colourless vowel at the end of grote, e.g. gelukkig, vriendelijk.

If one keeps in mind that one of the basic tenets of Dutch spelling is that long vowels in closed syllables are written double, but not in open syllables² e.g. eet > eten, boom > bomen), the e’s and o’s in loanwords like those given below must be pronounced long, although there is a strong tendency for English speakers to equate them with the same words in English and pronounce these vowels too short (the vowels in question are underlined):

politie, provocatie, positief

definitief, evalueren, eventueel, negatief

1.2 Consonants

One of the most stubborn traces of an English accent in Dutch is the presence of aspiration after stops, particularly after p, t and k. If you listen closely to the difference in the consonants between Dutch pot, top and kat on the one hand and English ‘pot’, ‘top’ and ‘cat’ on the other, you should become aware that the ‘breathiness’ which follows these consonants in English is lacking in Dutch. Continuing to aspirate in Dutch does not impede understanding at all, but it will continue to mark you as English-speaking, but Germans too have a tendency to do this in Dutch. The tendency for English speakers to aspirate the voiced stops b, d and g is much less and does not usually pose a problem.

Remember that in Dutch, as in German, voiced obstruents (i.e. b, d, g, v, z) do not occur in word final position, thus the final sounds in bed and heb are pronounced t and p respectively, and this also explains why the stems of the verbs leven and reizen are leef and reis, where the change in pronunciation is indicated in the spelling, which is not the case with the verbal stems wed (< wedden ‘to bet’) and heb (< hebben ‘to have’).

Intervocalic d’s are commonly vocalized (= become a vowel) in Dutch, i.e. they are pronounced either as i or j. The advanced learner will already be acquainted with this phenomenon in words like goede (pron. goeie) and rode (pron. rooie), but may be unaware of other subtleties in this respect. In many words with an intervocalic d, one has the option of vocalizing it or not, e.g. raden/raaie ‘to guess’, beneden/beneje ‘downstairs’, rijden/rije ‘to drive’, but in Goede Vrijdag, goede remains goede because it is an elevated concept, as it is in Kaap de Goede Hoop ‘the Cape of Good Hope’ and vergoeden ‘to reimburse’; the d in ouders is never vocalized either.

One should be aware of the substantial difference between a Dutch and an English ‘l’; a Dutch l is said to be thicker. The difference is all the more obvious when a back vowel (i.e. a, o or u) follows or precedes the l. Listen closely to how the Dutch pronounce land, lof, kul, vol, wel, etc.

Possibly the most difficult of all consonants is r. First, one needs to decide whether one is going to adopt a dental r (called een tong-r) or a uvular r (called een huig-r). Both commonly occur in Dutch, but the latter is by far the more common these days. Remember that r in all positions must be audible in Dutch, even in final position where it can be particularly difficult for English-speaking people to pronounce, e.g. kar, puur, moeder. The trick here is to slightly sound the r by trilling it without overdoing it.

It often escapes the notice of foreign learners of Dutch that a Dutch s is different from an English ‘s’. As there is not really a ‘sh’³ sound in Dutch for s to contrast with, s tends to be pronounced with a slight sh-like quality. Listen closely to how the Dutch pronounce sok, los and mus for example.

Many Dutch speakers break up the cluster formed by an l or r followed by another consonant by inserting a schwa between them (compare substandard English ‘filem’ for ‘film’). Generally speaking, the practice is not as stigmatized in Dutch as in English as far as l plus another consonant is concerned, but between r and another consonant it is necessary to insert a schwa to facilitate pronunciation: elf, film, melk, twaalfde; kerk, lantaarn, zwerm.

1.3 Regional differences

For a linguistic area as small as it is, the Dutch-speaking territories harbour a surprising number of dialects. In the Netherlands, monolingual dialect speakers are virtually non-existent these days and in Belgium they are fast becoming a rarity too. Non-native-speakers do not therefore have to fear being confronted with dialect as they will always be addressed in something approximating Standard Dutch, as indeed even native-speakers of Dutch from other regions are. Nevertheless, certain characteristics of the dialects are frequently heard in the otherwise Standard Dutch of people from other regions. Only the most common of these are dealt with below. These differences are no greater to the Dutch than those between British and American English are to native-speakers of English and thus mutual comprehension is not impeded in any way at all.

1.3.1 The dropping of final n

It is usual for most speakers of Dutch, regardless of their regional origins, to drop their n’s, in other words to drop the n from the ending -en which so commonly occurs in infinitives and strong past participles as well as in the plural of nouns. Other than in the slowest, most deliberate of speech, one is advised as a foreigner to follow suit here and to drop one’s n’s; to do otherwise sounds very unnatural. Note that n’s that occur in the middle of words as a result of compounding are also dropped, e.g. boekenkast, zeventien (see 2.7).

The most distinctive shibboleth of easterners (i.e. from Groningen south to the Achterhoek) is that they pronounce their n’s. In fact, the e of the ending tends to be swallowed, with assimilation of the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface to the second edition
• Preface to the third edition
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Pronunciation
• Chapter 2 Spelling
• Chapter 3 Punctuation
• Chapter 4 Cases
• Chapter 5 Articles
• Chapter 6 Demonstratives
• Chapter 7 Nouns
• Chapter 8 Pronouns
• Chapter 9 Adjectives
• Chapter 10 Adverbs
• Chapter 11 Verbs
• Chapter 12 Conjunctions
• Chapter 13 Prepositions
• Chapter 14 Numerals
• Chapter 15 Er
• Chapter 16 Negation
• Appendix 1: Letter writing and email
• Appendix 2: Proper nouns
• Appendix 3: Common Dutch abbreviations
• Glossary of grammatical terms
• Index