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Lesson 3 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Spelling of Vowels - Vocabulary - Numbers 10-20 - Broadcasting in Holland

Tegenwind in Nederland Als je in Nederland fietst dan heb je òf wind mee, òf je hebt wind tegen. Meestal heb je natuurlijk tegenwind, en als je 's morgens met tegenwind naar je werk of naar school fietst, dan draait de wind vaak, en dan heb je aan het eind van de dag niet de wind mee maar weer tegenwind. Als je 's morgens wind mee hebt dan draait de wind nooit. Theoretisch zou je zeggen dat het ook wel eens windstil zou moeten zijn, maar dat gebeurt bijna nooit.		Headwinds in Holland Riding a bicycle in Holland you'll either have the wind in your back, or you'll have the wind against. Of course, most of the time you'll have the wind against you, and in case you have the wind against when riding your bike to work or to school in the morning, you'll often find the wind has shifted at the end of the day. If you have the wind at your back in the morning it never changes direction. In theory, you'd expect an occasional day of no wind, but that's rare, very rare.
M'n vrouw zegt dat het alleen windstil is als je wil vliegeren. 't Is alleen windstil als je wilt vliegeren. 2 3 ('je wilt' 2 is correct, 'je wil' is not correct)		My wife says the only time there's no wind is when you'd like to fly a kite. The only time that there's no wind is when you want to fly a kite.

The Long and Short of Dutch Vowels

The pronunciation examples are not meant as vocabulary to be learned

Double vowels are always long, but single vowels can be either long or short.

heg 'short e' (hedge)

deeg 'long e' (dough)

degen 'long e' / 'voiceless e' (a light sword)

motor 'long o' / 'short o' (engine)

There is a rule, and it is really logical and not that difficult. It may take a moment to understand - this will be a somewhat long lesson, take your time - but once you've mastered the spelling of long and short vowels Dutch will look much clearer, much less confusing, and you will be able to confidently pronounce written Dutch.

Let me stress again that the 'long vowels' and 'short vowels' are just traditional names; the difference between them is actually more of tone. A 'short' vowel can be stretched, and the word will still be correctly understood. Linguists call the long vowel 'free' and the short vowel 'covered.'

Compare the vowels in these words:

man 'short a' (man,male)

maan 'long a' (moon)

Ma 'long a' (Mom)

mannen 'short a' (men)

manen 'long a' (moons)

slap 'short a' (weak)

slaap 'long a' (sleep)

sla 'long a' (lettuce)

slappe 'short a' (weak)

slapen 'long a' (to sleep)

slappe

Why are the single A's in ma and manen, sla and slapen long?

	example	example
double vowel	maan	slaap	always long
single vowel at the end of a word	Ma	sla	long (except for -e which is voiceless)
single vowel followed by one or more consonants at the end of a word	man	slap	short
single vowel followed by one consonant followed by another vowel	manen	slapen	long (syllable split: ma-nen, sla-pen)
single vowel followed by two or more consonants	mannen	slappe	short (syllable split: man-nen, slap-pe)

• Double vowels (AA, EE, IE, OO and UU) are always long:
  (There is no double I in Dutch; it's always written as IE.)
  raad - reed - ried - rood - Ruud
  (counsel, advice - drove, rode - ~counseled - red - boys' name)
  vaar - veer - vier - voor - vuur
  (~ (I) sail - ferry/spring/feather - 4 - for/before - fire)
• A single vowel at the end of a word or syllable is always long ('free.')
  ga - *de* - die - juli - zo - nu
  (go - the - that/those - July - such - now)
  EXCEPTION: Single 'e' at the end of a word is always 'voiceless' (uh):
  me - ze - je - te
  (me - she/they - you - too)
  So long E at the end of a word has to be written as double E:
  thee - mee - ree
  (tea - ~along - roe, deer)
  The only exception to this exception is the city name Enschede
  Single I at the end of a word is rare, only found in words of foreign origin.
• A single vowel followed by a consonant at the end of a word is always short ('covered.')
  pat - pet - pit - pot - put
  (stalemate (chess) - cap - stone (in fruit) - jar - well)
  das - des - dis - dos - dus - *duw*
  (shawl/tie - of the (old-fashioned) - (hair)do - so, thus - push)
  Exception: UW is always long
• Longer words are broken up in syllables.
  • If there's a single consonant between vowels, that consonant usually goes to the second syllable, leaving the first syllable ending in a vowel, which makes it an 'open' syllable with a long ('free') vowel.

    banen -	benen -	tienen -	bonen -	buren	2
    (ba-nen)	(be-nen)	(tie-nen)	(bo-nen)	(bu-ren)
    (jobs)	(legs)	(10s)	(beans)	(neighbors)

    baren -	beren -	bieren -	boren -	buren	2
    (ba-ren)	(be-ren)	(bie-ren)	(bo-ren)	(bu-ren)
    ('seas,' to give birth)	(bears)	(beers)	(to drill)	(neighbors

  • If there are two or more consonants between vowels, they are usually divided between the syllables. Thus, a consonant will 'close' the first syllable, 'covering' the vowel, making a single vowel short.

    danken -	denken -	zinken -	bonken -	dunken
    (dan-ken)	(den-ken)	(zin-ken)	(bon-ken)	(dun-ken)
    (to thank)	(to think)	(to sink (passively))	(to thud, to hammer)	(stating an opinion)

    bakken -	bekken -	bikken -	bokken -	bukken
    (bak-ken)	(bek-ken)	(bik-ken)	(bok-ken)	(buk-ken)
    (to bake)	(pelvis)	(to eat (slang))	(he-goats)	(to stoop, duck)

• Double consonants only indicate that a preceding single vowel is pronounced short, the consonants are not pronounced double or long.
  

  heten -	heetten -	laden -	laadden
  (he-ten)	(heet-ten)	(la-den)	(laad-den)
  (are named)	(were named)	(are loading)	(were loading)

  Heten sounds exactly the same as heetten and laden sounds exactly the same as laadden.
  A double consonant is pronounced the same as a single consonant, not longer or as two with a pause in between; the consonant is doubled only to indicate that a preceding single vowel is short. (In English, 'silent E' has a kind-of reverse function: man/mane - hug/huge.) A long vowel before a double consonant needs to be written as a double vowel.

  grote 2 -	grootte
  (gro-te)	(groot-te)
  (big, large tall, great)	(size)

  grote -	grootte -	hete -	heette -	late -	haatte
  (gro-te)	(groot-te)	(he-te)	(heet-te)	(la-te)	(haat-te)
  (big)	(size)	(hot)	(was called)	(not in time)	(hated)

  So grote sounds exactly the same as grootte and hete sounds exactly the same as heette

  zak 2 ('bag; pocket') / zakken ('bags')
  zaak ('case; business') / zaken ('cases;' 'business')
  den ('fir tree') / dennen 2 ('fir trees')
  Deen ('Dane, a person from Denmark') / Denen 2 ('Danes')
  wet ('law') / wetten ('laws') / weten ('to know')
  redden 2 ('to save' (from danger)) / reden 2 ('reason, cause') /
  bot ('bone; dull (knife); rude') / botten ('bones')
  boot 2 ('boat') / boten 2 ('boats')
  grot ('cave') / grotten ('caves')
  groot 2 3 4 ('big') / grote 2 ('big') / grootte ('size, dimension')

• As mentioned above, a double vowel is always long, even in a syllable that ends in a consonant (a 'closed syllable'):
  kaas (cheese) - raam (window) - zaad (seed) - kaart (card; map)
  Or, to look at it in a different way, if the vowel in a syllable is long and followed by one or more consonants, then it has to be written as a double vowel.
• CH counts as a double consonant for the length of the preceding vowel:
  echo 2 3 - ego 2 3
• Only at the end of a word is single 'e' always voiceless; as the last letter of a syllable that's not the last of a word, single 'e' will be either voiceless or long. (see next lesson)
• The constituting parts of compound words keep their original form.

  kweepeer -	theepot -	tweedracht
  (kwee-peer)	(thee-pot)	(twee-dracht)
  (quince - a kind of pear)	(thee-pot)	(twee-dracht)

cister - citer (mediaeval string instruments)
la - lat - laat - latten - lade - laden 2
(drawer - slat - late - slats - drawer - drawers)
ka - kat - kater - katten - 2
(an aggressive, loud woman - cat - male cat - cats)
pa - pas - pa's - passen - Pasen
(Dad - step - Dad's/Dads - to fit - Easter)
na - nat - naad - natte - naden
(after - wet - seam - wet - seams)
waden - watten - Wadden - water - 2
(to wade - 'cotton wool' - flood plain area - water)
bas - bes - bis - bos - bus
(bass - berry - 'encore' - forest - bus/metal jar)
krik - krikken - krieken - smid - smiecht - wicht
(jack (tool) - to jack - early morning - smith - rogue - ~girl)
knop - knoop - knoppen - knopen
(bud - button - buds - buttons)
mus - mussen - muze - muziek - muzikaal - mug
(sparrow - sparrows - muse - music - musical - mosquito)

Diphthongs (AU/OU, EI/IJ, EU, OE and UI) are always long.
kou - koud ('the cold - cold')
mij - mijn ('me - my (mine)')
deuk - keuken ('dent - kitchen')
koekoek ('cuckoo')
lui - luid ('lazy - loud')

Continue reading about Dutch spelling and pronunciation in Lesson 11
And compare: hear all Dutch vowels and diphthongs side-by-side

Words

brood - 2

sla

appel

tomaat

prei

bloemkolen

fruit

sinaasappel

kip

vlees

worst

spek

spek

kaas >>

huis

deur - 2

muur

schutting

tuin - 2

tuintje - 2

Numbers 2

10 tien

11 elf

12 twaalf

13 dertien

14 veertien

15 vijftien

16 zestien

17 zeventien

18 achttien

19 negentien

20 twintig

<< numbers, simple math and dimensions >>

The Broadcasting System in Holland

radio, radiotoestel

omroepkaart

televisie = TV

Until commercial radio and TV came to Holland in the 1990s, most of the broadcasting was provided by 'broadcasting organisations,' omroepverenigingen . Members would pay a yearly fee of a few dollars, and the number of members determined the amount of broadcast time given to each organisation: like an election. I think it's unique in the world, and a very fair system. Next to the omroepverenigingen an independent organisation provided news and sports coverage. The broadcasting facilities were run by the government. The broadcasting organisations represented the different segments of the Dutch population: Labor, Conservative, Roman Catholic, and several Protestant groups. The various groups in the Dutch population of the fifties and sixties lived somewhat separately, with their own schools, sports clubs and students' societies, and also their own political parties. Some people would only listen to the broadcasts of their own group. This compartmentalization of Dutch society is called verzuiling - Dutch zuil is 'pillar' like in a Greek temple. I've seen it translated as 'pillarization,' but that doesn't seem right to me. It looks too much like another word. Wouldn't 'compartmentalization' be a better translation? I think Dutch society changed much with the shake-up of the late sixties and the diminishing role of religion, not many people going to church anymore. The old boundaries have faded.

Dutch national radio and television started without commercials, but to pay for the broadcasting, each household had to buy a listening and viewing permit (omroepkaart) - about $75 a year in the 1980s. As David Lodge has rightly noted in 'Changing Places,' without commercials disc jockeys need to do much more talking, and it isn't always entertaining. In the late sixties blocks of ads around the news programs on radio and TV were introduced. A very nice feature of Dutch broadcasting and politics is that there are no political commercials on radio or TV, and also not in the newspapers, so politicians don't need the big money for that. It keeps politics a little cleaner. For a long time the 'pirate station' Radio Veronica was broadcasting pop radio with commercials from a ship just outside the territorial waters. It filled a great need because there was very little pop and rock on national radio, until a third national radio channel was started in the late 60s. In the mid-sixties, some businessmen tried to start a commercial TV station on an old oil rig in the North Sea, but that was stopped by the authorities after a few months. Marines boarded the rig and seized the transmitting equipment. Eventually, both 'Radio Veronica' and some of the people behind the commercial TV station 'came on land' and 'joined the system' to become popular broadcasting organisations. << - essays - >>

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Don't be a dief (thief) / dievegge (female thief) - diefstal (theft) - stelen (to steal) - heler (dealer in stolen goods) - hear Dutch - 2