06
nov
The word ‘hoor’ is incredibly versatile. I just love it. Like the word ‘gezellig’, it cannot be translated directly. Here are some examples of the use of ‘hoor’ in Dutch and their corresponding English translations. Thanks to its strong resemblance to the English word ‘whore’, native English speakers are usually quite surprised when they hear the word ‘hoor’ […]
24
sep
The correct answer to the Deane’s English Facebook quiz question is, of course, reserve and not ‘reservate’. The Dutch words ‘reserveren’ and ‘converseren’ sound very similar to the English words ‘reserve’ and ‘converse’, but this is where it stops! In English, you reserve something and you converse (or have a conversation) about something. Hope it helps! Laura
17
sep
In the quiz question on Facebook, the correct answer is ‘too’. The words ‘too’ and ‘to’ are often confused in Dutch. Here is a short explanation of their translations. ‘Too’ means ‘te’. For example: Don’t eat too fast = Eet niet te snel ‘Too’ also means ‘ook’. For example: Anne is a good teacher too= Anne is ook een […]
18
aug
Hi all, Welcome back to my blog after many weeks of glorious summer holidays. As we all need some time to settle back into routines get used to alarm clocks, I’m keeping this week’s blog extra short and simple. In English, the days of the week are always spelled with a capital letter (not the […]
25
jun
From the Urban dictionary: yadda yadda yadda is a phrase that means “and so forth” or “on and on;” it usually refers to something that is boring and repetitive. The phrase comes from Yiddish, and became popular in the 1990’s after it was featured on the popular TV show “Seinfeld.” Synonym: blah blah blah For example: Liz told me every […]
19
jun
The correct answer is: 2 clogs Today is a short ‘clog blog’ about how to make plurals in English. The Dutch do it differently to us – they add an apostrophe (‘s). We never add an apostrophe to make a plural. Ever. The majority of words in English take an ‘s’ in the plural. 2 clogs, 4 drinks, 5 cats, […]
11
jun
I’m sure you’ve spotted it …the list on the left of ordinal numbers (rangtelwoorden) is correct. When writing the date in English,we change 1, 2 and 3 into first (1st) second (2nd) and third (3rd). All the other ordinal numbers add ‘th’. The exception to this rule are numbers 11, 12 & 13: they all take ‘th’ (11th, 12th, […]
04
jun
It seems like such a small thing, but really it’s not. My advice is to simply learn a sentence containing all three words: e.g. They’re going over there to get their car They’re = een verkorting van they are (zij zijn) There = daar of er (ben je daar al eens geweest / er zijn […]
28
mei
Today’s blog is about the letters ‘s’, ‘v’ and ‘th’ and how to pronounce them in English. The ‘s’ sound (e.g. sun) is made with your front teeth closed together The ‘th’ sound (e.g. the) is made with the tongue between your teeth When you say a word beginning with ‘v’ (e.g. voice), you actually […]
22
mei
The idiom ‘to take your hat off to someone’ (often shortened to ‘hats off’) means that you respect or admire someone for something. In the days when wearing hats was common, men lifted their hats off to show their respect for someone. In Dutch we use the expression ‘Petje af’ which literally means ‘Cap off’. […]