Dutch Study Group - Page 26 (2024)

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious

Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.

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jeff_lindqvist wrote:

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious

Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.

Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one

Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

Ug_Caveman wrote:

jeff_lindqvist wrote:

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious

Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.

Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one

Just a small stumble. Jeff is correct though, it's referring to jumpers in general. 'Die zijn = those/they are. Also it should be bloesje. And in the first sentence 'er' isn't necessary unless the context of the sentence refers to 'a specific place (there).' In general that 'er' will likely sound like 'd'r' (daar) in speech.

Ug_Caveman wrote:

jeff_lindqvist wrote:

Ug_Caveman wrote:Working through the supplementary materials for the Linguaphone course has thrown this particular confusion at me:

Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
Person A - Heb je ook en (should be 'een') trui nodig?
Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.

I don't understand why the form of 'zijn' in the last sentence is as if 'een trui' is plural? Am I missing something obvious

Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.

Just realised I made a typo when writing out the conversation - should be "een" not "en".

I thought trui was singular and truien was the plural?

I'm so lost on this one.

I think you're getting bogged down in details - paralysis by analysis...

My translation:
Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
= What do you want to buy there?

Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
= Oh, a skirt and a ?? (typo? bloes = blouse, thus 'bloesje'?? bloesje = a small blouse/a little something/just a blouse)

Person A - Heb je ook een trui nodig?
= Do you need a jumper/sweater as well?

Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.
= No, they're too expensive now.

jeff_lindqvist wrote:Isn't that referring to sweaters in general rather than a specific sweater? Makes sense to me.

Agreed.

PeterMollenburg wrote:
I think you're getting bogged down in details - paralysis by analysis...

My translation:
Person A - Wat wil je er kopen?
= What do you want to buy there?

Person B - O, een jurk en een blosje.
= Oh, a skirt and a ?? (typo? bloes = blouse, thus 'bloesje'?? bloesje = a small blouse/a little something/just a blouse)

Person A - Heb je ook een trui nodig?
= Do you need a jumper/sweater as well?

Person B - Nee, die zijn nu te duur.
= No, they're too expensive now.

So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

(Apologies for the typos , I'm very unused to typing Dutch compared to writing things out by hand. )

Le Baron wrote:And in the first sentence 'er' isn't necessary unless the context of the sentence refers to 'a specific place (there).' In general that 'er' will likely sound like 'd'r' (daar) in speech.

Ah, in this instance that's just me not copying the whole conversation out - the whole exercise refers to de kledingzaak in some lines I omitted

Thanks all for you help!

Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

Ug_Caveman wrote:So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

It's the same in English.
E.g:
- 'Are you going to buy a new car?'
- 'No, they're too expensive these days.'

Die zijn = they are.

Le Baron wrote:

Ug_Caveman wrote:So, just to make sure I've got it correct - as it's not referring to any specific sweater (even though the question refers to the concept of singular one), the response can be generalised to all sweaters?

It's the same in English.
E.g:
- 'Are you going to buy a new car?'
- 'No, they're too expensive these days.'

Die zijn = they are.

Thank you so much everyone - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.

Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

Ug_Caveman wrote:Thank you so much everyone - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.

Do you mean 'het zijn'? This is most noticeable because of the 'het', showing it is treated as a collective noun:

Het zijn waardeloze dingen.

Le Baron wrote:

Ug_Caveman wrote:Thank you so much everyone - I just wanted to be sure because I know there's some nouns which can act as plural in English but are singular in Dutch.

Do you mean 'het zijn'? This is most noticeable because of the 'het', showing it is treated as a collective noun:

Het zijn waardeloze dingen.

Ah, well it was actually trousers I was thinking of

Broek/en vs trousers serving as both singular and plural in English and requiring additional context to indicate singularity or plurality.

The fact the exercise was about clothes is probably what made my brain think of it - although it doesn't really matter in this instance, I'd just totally misunderstood the exercise and Jeff's initial response [which I now understand.]

Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans