BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page i BASIC DUTCH: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume. This workbook presents 25 individual grammar points in realistic contexts, providing a grammatical approach which will allow students not already familiar with these structures to become accustomed to their use. Grammar points are followed by examples and exercises designed to reinforce and consolidate students’ learning. Suitable for class use or self-study, Basic Dutch introduces Dutch culture and people through the medium of the language used today, providing students with the basic tools to express themselves in a wide variety of situations. Features include: • useful exercises and full answer key • grammar tables for easy reference • frequent comparative references to English grammar • appendix of irregular verbs • index of grammatical terms. Jenneke A. Oosterhoff is Senior Lecturer in the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch at the University of Minnesota. BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page ii Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are: Basic Cantonese Intermediate Cantonese Basic Chinese Intermediate Chinese Intermediate Dutch Basic German Intermediate German Basic Irish Intermediate Irish Basic Italian Basic Korean Intermediate Korean (forthcoming) Basic Polish Intermediate Polish Basic Russian Intermediate Russian Basic Spanish Intermediate Spanish Basic Welsh Intermediate Welsh BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page iii BASIC DUTCH: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK Jenneke A. Oosterhoff Illustrated by Ari Hoptman BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page iv First published 2009 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk © 2009 Jenneke A. Oosterhoff All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oosterhoff, Jenneke. Basic Dutch : a grammar and workbook / Jenneke Oosterhoff. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Dutch language—Grammar. 2. Dutch language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English. I. Title. PF112 439.31—dc22 2008032503 ISBN 0-203-88310-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–48488–X (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–77443–8 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–88310–1 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–48488–6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–77443–7 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–88310–5 (ebk) BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page v CONTENTS Preface vii 1 Verbs and pronouns 1 2 Modal auxiliary verbs 11 3 Questions and question words 15 4 Numbers and measures 20 5 Telling the time 30 6 Articles and nouns 40 7 The plural of nouns 45 8 Object pronouns 52 9 Demonstrative pronouns 58 10 Possessive pronouns 62 11 Adjective endings 67 12 The adjective in comparison 73 13 Adverbs 78 14 The adverb er 87 15 Negatives 92 16 The diminutive 100 17 Separable and inseparable verbs 106 18 The present perfect tense 112 19 The simple past tense 119 20 The imperative 126 v BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page vi Contents 21 Reflexive verbs 132 22 Infinitive constructions 137 23 Word order 146 24 Relative clauses 153 25 Prepositions 157 Appendix: Strong and irregular verbs 169 Key to exercises 175 Index 193 vi BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page vii PREFACE This book is a basic Dutch reference grammar with exercises for absolute beginners or learners who want to refine their knowledge of grammatical structures. Each unit presents a grammatical topic with an introduction and where necessary an overview in a table, followed by clear and con- cise explanations in English and ending with a series of contextualized exercises. The explanations are illustrated by examples in Dutch, and some images are included to provide a more humorous context. This basic grammar workbook is suitable for independent learning as well as for classroom use. Its contents cover the materials typical for first- year curriculum Dutch as a foreign language taught at university level. Using vocabulary associated with topics featured in typical first-year Dutch lan- guage textbooks, it can accompany any such textbook used in classroom language instruction. This is strictly a grammar book. It doesn’t include a chapter on pro- nunciation, because the internet provides numerous examples on this topic, including audio files. This book, however, provides clear explanations of grammatical terms, contrasted with examples in English, and it gives special attention to grammatical aspects of spelling. Language is best learned and practiced in context. Sample sentences and exercises in traditional grammar books often lack such context. Most examples and exercises in this book, however, are written in context, using an imaginary Dutch family of four and their circle of friends and neigh- bors to provide a situational context. The exercises teach the learner to first recognize the grammar structure and then apply it in more complex forms. For classroom purposes, some speaking exercises suitable for group work are also included. For immediate feedback, a key to the exer- cises is provided at the back of this book. For help in writing this grammar workbook, I have consulted many excellent reference grammars and other Dutch grammar workbooks, first and foremost the Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst (Martinus Nijhoff, 1997), but also works such as Dutch: An Essential Grammar (Routledge, 2002), De Regels van het Nederlands (Wolters Noordhoff, 1994) and Nederlandse Grammatica voor Anderstaligen (Utrecht, 1985). I am vii BD-A01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page viii Preface indebted to the people at taaladvies.net for sending me quick and helpful answers to complex grammatical questions. I specially thank Wijnie de Groot and Alice van Kalsbeek for constructive comments and moral support along the way, and I am most grateful to my students Heidi Raatz and Julia Belgum for proofreading my chapters and asking me exactly the right questions. Many thanks also to Ari Hoptman for providing the images to underline the grammar with good laughs, and, lastly, I want to thank the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota for granting me a leave of absence to finish this project. Jenneke A. Oosterhoff St. Paul, July 2008 Further Reading A. Florijn, J. Lalleman, H. Maureau (1994) De Regels van het Nederlands. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff. A. M. Fontein, A. Pescher-ter Meer (1985) Nederlandse Grammatica voor Anders- taligen. Utrecht: Nederlands Centrum Buitenlanders. W. Hasereyn, K. Romijn, G. Geerts, J. de Rooij, M. C. van den Toorn (1997) Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst. Groningen: Martinus Nijhoff. W. Z. Shetter, I. van der Cruysse-Van Antwerpen (2002) Dutch: An Essential Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. viii BD-C01 19/01/2009 10:44 AM Page 1 UNIT ONE Verbs and pronouns Introduction Two basic elements of a grammatical sentence are a subject and a verb: Ik ga ‘I go’, Jij eet ‘You eat’, Peter werkt ‘Peter works’, We spelen ‘We play’. This first chapter, therefore, is an introduction to the subject forms of the personal pronoun and verbs in the present tense. The chapter includes a section on spelling in verb conjugation. Subject forms of the personal pronoun: overview Singular 1st person ik I 2nd person jij/je (informal), u (formal) you 3rd person hij (masculine), zij/ze (feminine), het (neuter) he, she, it Plural 1st person wij/we we 2nd person jullie (informal), u (formal, verb in singular) you 3rd person zij/ze they Notes and examples 1 Personal pronouns refer to both persons and things. A person might be introduced by his or her name, and further statements about that person begin with the personal pronoun that corresponds in gender and number. See the following examples: Henk woont in Zeist. Hij werkt in Utrecht. Henk lives in Zeist. He works in Utrecht. 1