Dutchisms: The middle n

Before I start ranting about the lack of logic on the 'middle n', I have to explain that us Dutchies tend to lose letters when speaking. And generally we lose the 'n' at the end of words, or middle ns in compounded words. And as often happens, spoken language becomes written language and vice versa.

However quite a few years ago, some new official rules for the middle n were launched. The general rule was, if the first word in a compounded word can only be singular in this situation there is no middle n. Makes sense, right? For example Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) does not need a middle n, as there is only one queen. (Of course it's now Koningsdag, but.. details).

However a word like pannekoek, became pannenkoek (pancake). And that is where you lose me. After all, every single pancake can only bake in 1 pan at a time. Are there more pans in the world? Yes of course, but one pancake come from one pan. Zonnebloem, however, remained the same. Because yes, 1 sun. But really the sun is a star and we all know there are plenty of those, so..

It is another rule I simply can't explain. Logic is not part of the Dutch language. When in doubt.. Do what feels best. 

Next time, I'll discuss influences from other languages, there's a lot to talk about!,

Dutchisms: foreign influence

Language has been evolving for so long that there is no language that doesn't borrow words from another language. An obvious example would be English, but today I'll look at slightly more surprising languages. 

To start: Yiddish.

There are quite a few words that have found their way into every day Dutch. Some might be more common in Amsterdam or to people whose (grand)parents grew up in/around Amsterdam.

To start: Mokum. Amsterdam's nickname! Makom = city.

And these are things I say all the time: tinnef (tinnoef:rubbish), versjteren (to ruin), ramsj (rubbish, usually cheap crap), mazzel (either: lucky, or as a greeting when leaving 'de mazzel'), kapsones (hybris), jatten (from jad=hand, means stealing), achenebbisj (poor, run down).

German also has crept into every day language. Some words that I use are so common, for a long while I didn't even realise they were German! 'überhaupt'= in any case (hard to translate though), 'sowieso'= anyhow, 'schmink'= face paint, and 'schwalbe' = dive (as in football) (it also literally means swallow(noun)).

There are also words that are used quite a bit in every day language but can't be seen as official Dutch words: zum Kotsen = literally to throw up about, so not cool; unheimlich = uneasy, scary;  umlaut; streber = overachiever; spitzen= en pointe balletshoes;  spachtelputz = type of wall plaster; schadenfreude; angstgegner.

A lot of words in Dutch find their origin in the french language. In fact there are so many I could write about it for weeks on end. So I will just pick a few that I think are interesting or the most wel known. 

The two most commonly used words that are french but were 'dutchiefied' are portemonnee and paraplu. Portemonnee comes from porte monnaie, to carry money and you guess it, it's a wallet or coin purse. Paraplu comes from the french parapluie. For the rain, or more, against the rain. An umbrella! There are two words that have differed in spelling in the dutch language over time from french to dutch back to french: Bureau (either desk or station (as in police station, not train station)) and cadeau (present). In a 'we need to be more Dutch phase' these words were to be spelled buro and kado. Which, to me, still looks ridiculous. 

Some other french words we use: Coulant = benevolent; decolleté = cleavage; fouilleren = frisk search; gêne = shame (as in 'I know no shame'); monteur = mechanic. And so on and so forth, many words in English also stem from French. All these languages are married and have had many babies ;-)

Another area of great influence on the Dutch language is Indonesian.

Amok = from amuk: trouble (to cause trouble); matteklap = mataklap, from mata galap: bat crap crazy; piekeren = from pikir, to worry; senang = happy, content; pakkie-an = from pakaian (clothing: responsibility (mostly used as 'this is not my responsibility')); and many more.

As you can see, our language is as international as we like to think our country is. Maybe it's also the reason we speak so many foreign languages, we're bound to already know some words!

Dutchisms: vowels

Dutcies love their vowels. LOVE. We prefer to stick as many together as we possibly can. 

This of course leads to monstrosities of words such as zeeëgel (sea urchin), which isn't pronounced that differently from zegel (seal (or stamp)).

Most often it happens with plural forms though. 

Some examples..

Koe (cow) - koeien (cows), and koeien loeien (cows moo), and koeien eten gras om te groeien (cows eat grass to grow).

Are you vowel-ed out yet?? 

There also is bloei-bloeien (to bloom) and so on and so forth.

The plural of zee (sea) is not 'zees' but zeeën, and the plural of bij (bee) is not bijs but bijen.

Naturally we like to let vowels disappear too. Thanks for your effort, but in the plural, you are no longer needed: vuur-vuren (fire-fires), boom-bomen (tree,trees), which is not to be confused with bom-bommen (bomb-bombs).

You see, it is a weird language Dutch. And these rules are simply inexplicable for non native speakers. I mean, I don't even know the why, I just.. Learned it. 

Next week, I will talk to you about the mysterious and confusing "middle n". Why is it zonnebloem (sun flower) but pannenkoek (pancake)? 

Dutchisms

Dutch is a glorious language. Fairly difficult to learn for non-native speakers in a lot of ways, but filled with simplicity in others. Every week I'll introduce something from the Dutch language that warms my heart.

This week, a saying or idiom. There are many sayings that translate well into different languages, or are just the same (eq. The apple does not fall far from the tree). However, there are quite a few that are uniquely Dutch. 

One of these is: "Nou breekt toch m'n klomp". It is used when something just baffles you so much it leaves you speechless. Translated into English it is something along the lines of 'Now that just broke my wooden shoe in two'. And admittedly if I was wearing wooden shoes (which FYI barely anyone does in the Netherlands anymore, usually only old farmers) and it were to break, that would leave me fairly stumped. Wooden shoes are sturdy, they don't just break!

Another one that finds its origin in something quintessentially Dutch is: "jezelf in de nesten werken". It means 'to get yourself into trouble' and it originates from one of the Dutch symbols: the windmill.

A "nest" is a pit that forms in the wood of the turning mechanisms of a windmill if the mill has been kept in the same position for too long. When this happens you can no longer turn the mill to face the wind and you are in proper trouble!

Next time: our love for vowels which leads to words as zeëegel. Which you musn't confuse with zegel.