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Listen to The Dutch Anthem - 'Voiceless E' - The Article - Vocabulary (Clothing) - Numbers 20-100 (#1) - The Dutch Revolt

The Dutch Anthem		Het Wilhelmus
Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Ben ik van Duitsen bloed Den Vaderland getrouwe Blijf ik tot in den doet Een prinse van Oranje Ben ik, vrij, onverveerd Den konink van Hispanje Heb ik altijd geëerd (please rise)		I am William of Nassau A man of our people Loyal to the Fatherland I'll remain to my dying day I am a prince of Orange Free and without fear The king of Spain I have always respected

'Wilhelmus' is a Latinized version of German 'Wilhelm.' English 'William,' Dutch: Willem .
There are various interpretations of 'van Duitsen bloed.' In modern Dutch, it would read as 'of German blood,' and one opinion is that it points to William's German descent. I think the 'Duits' means 'us, our tribe, we the people: I am a man of our people' - as I said in the second lesson, from an old Germanic word, 'theudo,' ('diutisc' in old High German), which the Germanic tribes used to refer to themselves, like we would say 'of our nation, our people.' This word is the root of English 'Dutch,' and these three words that mean 'German:' Dutch 'Duits,' German 'Deutsch,' and Italian 'Tedeschi.'

'Voiceless E'

een

'long E'

'short E' 2

'voiceless E'

snertkerel (bad or useless guy) short / long / voiceless

berenvel (bear skin) long / voiceless / short

hernemen ('to retake') short / long / voiceless

reservedeken (spare blanket) voiceless / short / voiceless / long / voiceless

snel eten (eating fast) short / long / voiceless

deze weg (this road) long / voiceless / short

het hele meer (the whole lake) short / long / voiceless / long

Single E is short ( 2 ) like other short vowels as explained in the previous lesson:

• when followed by two or more consonants,
• at the end of a word followed by one (or more) consonants;
• again, unless it's a prefix or suffix as described above.

Single E is long ( ) when followed by one consonant and another vowel - unless it's a prefix or suffix as described above. (Words divide in syllables, and in Dutch a single consonant usually goes to the second syllable.) English 'silent E' works somewhat like this: man/mane, can/cane.

Compare:	vel (skin)	hek (fence)	ben ((I) am)	het (the #2)		'short'
with:	vele (many)	hekel (strong dislike)	benen (legs)	heten (be called)		'long'

Compare:	felle (fierce)	redden (to save (from danger))	vette (fat, greasy)	leggen (to lay)	2	'short'
with:	vele (many)	reden (reason)	vete (feud)	legen (to empty out)		'long'

E is short in the prefixes her- and ter-
tergend herverdelen terdege hernemen
(exasperating - re-distribute - properly - re-take)
The ending -el is almost always voiceless:
egel edel wezel
(hedgehog - noble - weasel)
enkel engel grendel stremsel greppel 2
(ankle/single - angel - bolt (door) - coagulant (rennet) - gully)
But: tabel 2 (table - list, schematic) - toestel (device, machine)
rebel 2 (rebel) - kapel (chapel)
hotel (hotel)

Many words are in the pattern:
prefix with voiceless E / stressed syllable / suffix with voiceless E
The vowel of the 'stressed sylable' will be 'long' when followed by just one consonant and another vowel (somewhat like English 'silent E') or 'short' when followed by more than one consonant. For instance:
bederven bedreven 2
(to spoil - good at)
vervelen beleden genezen benemend
(to bore - to profess - to heal, cure - ~taking away)
vervellen bedenken gewesten 2
(to shed skin - to think up - regions)
As you hear the words on my site, pay attention to how the vowels are pronounced, especially the E's.
See also the Pronunciation Reference page for another treatment of the 'voiceless, unstressed E' with many examples

The basic words that make up compound words keep their original spelling and pronunciation - as your vocabulary grows you'll recognize more and more of these building blocks. Also note that the stress in compound words can be in more than one syllable.
zeester 2 [sea-star] 'starfish'
meeëter 'acne pimple')
- the double dots (diaeresis - Dutch: trema ) on top of the E indicate a syllable break before this letter. It may look like the German Umlaut but its function is completely different. ‑>>

- many more words with 'voiceless, unstressed E'

The Article

de

het

't

de man de vrouw het kind 't mannetje hear

the man the woman the child 'the little man'

There are only a few useful rules about what are 'de'-words and what are 'het'-words. It has little to do with the apparent 'gender' of words. All diminutives (words ending in -je) are 'het' words. Plurals always get 'de.' A majority of Dutch words are 'de'-words, probably 60-75%. Most of my words list give the 'de' or 'het' with the word, and I'm afraid it's just something you'll have to memorize when learning words. (de) taal 2 'language.'

The indefinite article ('a') in Dutch is een which in a rare exception to spelling rules is pronounced as 'voiceless E' - it is sometimes more correctly written as 'n. For emphasis, you could say één ('one')
- more about 'De' and 'Het'

de / het / 't

(the)

een, 'n - 2

(a, an)

één

(one)

Words

(de) rok

(de) jurk 2

(de) blouse

(het) overhemd

(de) trui

(het) vest

(het) vestje

(de) broek 2

(de) spijkerbroek

(het) pak

(het) spijkerpak = (het) inspraakpak

(de) sokken 2

(de) schoenen

(de) jas

(de) das = (de) sjaal

(de) hoed

(de) pet 2

Numbers 20-100

20 twintig

30 dertig

40 veertig

50 vijftig

60 zestig

70 zeventig

80 tachtig

90 negentig

100 honderd

<<

numbers, simple math and dimensions

>>

The Dutch Revolt

In the late Middle Ages, present-day Holland and Belgium were a collection of small territories ruled by counts, dukes and bishops. It was part of the 'German Empire,' which was actually just a loose federation of mostly Germanic-speaking lands that further roughly included present-day Germany, Switzerland, The Czech Republic ('Bohemia'), Austria and some of Northern Italy. The German emperor (called 'Roman Emperor') was elected by a few of the more powerful rulers. Maps: 1000 AD - 1650 AD By clever marriages, other rulers' lack of heirs and a few wars, in the early 1400s most of present-day Holland and Belgium passed on to the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy (Bourgondië 2) like Philip the Good (Filips de Goede 2 3) and his son Charles the Bold (Karel de Stoute * ) - the Dutch word Bargoens 2 ('slang') may be a corruption of the Dutch word for 'Burgundian' - the strange language of the new officials or of the French word 'baragouin' for 'barbaric, unintelligible speech.' In the early 1500s Charles V (Karel de Vijfde 2) of Habsburg, king of Spain, became the ruler of the Netherlands. Charles V and later his son Philip II (Filips de Tweede 2) tried to suppress Protestantism, but together with their attempts to strengthen central government and limit local privileges, high taxation and an economic downturn led to the Dutch Revolt. It took 80 years (1568-1648) for the Spanish to recognize Dutch independence: De Tachtigjarige Oorlog 2 ("The Eighty-Years' War") Shortly before the Revolt, a group of Dutch nobles petitioned the Spanish Governor for greater tolerance of Protestantism, but they were dismissed by an adviser as 'just a bunch of beggars,' "Ils ne sont que des gueux," as he said in French. The revolutionaries proudly took a Dutchified form of that word as their name, Geuzen .

At the start of the revolt, the noblemen Egmond 2 and Hoorne 2 were publicly executed by the Spanish, together with hundreds of other protestants and protestors. Alva 2 (Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo) the Spanish governor in the first part of the Dutcch Revolt. The first success of the Dutch Revolt was the April 1st, 1572 capture of the port city of Den Briel ('Brill.') >> After that Spanish troops rampaged through Holland, but after some initial successes they left in 1574, and never returned to the Dutch heartland. The Dutch Revolt was led by William of Orange, (Willem van Oranje nicknamed 'William The Silent' Willem de Zwijger ) and by William's sons Maurits and Frederik Hendrik (nicknamed 'de Stedendwinger' 2 'subjugator of cities') after William's 1584 assassination. The Orange-Nassau family only became royal rulers after the French occupation (1797-1813.) At first they were stadhouders a kind of heriditary presidents. The word has nothing to do with Dutch stad ('town, city' - so which city?) but more with English 'instead' and German 'statt' - instead of the King. The new country was called the Republic (Republiek 2) of De Verenigde Provinciën ('The United Provinces,') a federal government as already pioneered by the Swiss, and followed again 130 years later by another great nation. Also: De Zeven (7) Provinciën Present-day Belgium remained in Spanish hands, and was passed on to Austria in the 1700s. After a brief union with the Northern Netherlands from 1813 Belgium became independent in 1838. Government and Elections in Holland << - essays - >>

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