Learn how to discuss possibilities
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella:Hi everyone, Gabriella: here! Welcome to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 1, Lesson 22 - The Possibilities Are Endless in the Netherlands. |
| Jacob:Hallo! I'm Jacob. Welcome to the lesson. |
| Gabriella:In this lesson we’re going to talk about discussing possibilities like “What shall we do?” or “If it’s sunny, we could go to the beach.” |
| Jacob:We’re going to listen to a telephone conversation between two friends, Sophie and Floortje. |
| Gabriella:Sophie is going to visit her Dutch friend Floortje, and so they’re making plans over the phone to spend some time together. |
| Jacob:Yes, and they seem to be good friends, so of course they’ll be using informal Dutch with each other. |
| Gabriella:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Floortje: Als je volgende week in Nederland bent, gaan we naar Scheveningen. |
| Sophie: Goed idee. Als de zon schijnt, dan kunnen we op het strand liggen. |
| Floortje: Als je typisch Nederlands eten wil proberen, dan zouden we ook een haring kunnen eten. |
| Sophie: Eten Nederlanders haring als avondeten? |
| Floortje: Tegenwoordig niet meer. Meestal wordt haring gegeten als tussendoortje. Of als lunch, op een broodje. |
| Sophie: Neem jij dan een foto, als ik volgende week die rauwe vis eet? |
| Gabriella: Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Floortje: Als je volgende week in Nederland bent, gaan we naar Scheveningen. |
| Sophie: Goed idee. Als de zon schijnt, dan kunnen we op het strand liggen. |
| Floortje: Als je typisch Nederlands eten wil proberen, dan zouden we ook een haring kunnen eten. |
| Sophie: Eten Nederlanders haring als avondeten? |
| Floortje: Tegenwoordig niet meer. Meestal wordt haring gegeten als tussendoortje. Of als lunch, op een broodje. |
| Sophie: Neem jij dan een foto, als ik volgende week die rauwe vis eet? |
| Gabriella: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Floortje: Als je volgende week in Nederland bent, gaan we naar Scheveningen. |
| Gabriella: When you visit the Netherlands next week, we'll go to Scheveningen. |
| Sophie: Goed idee. Als de zon schijnt, dan kunnen we op het strand liggen. |
| Gabriella: Good idea. If the sun will be shining, we can lie on the beach. |
| Floortje: Als je typisch Nederlands eten wil proberen, dan zouden we ook een haring kunnen eten. |
| Gabriella: If you would like to try typical Dutch food, then we could eat a herring. |
| Sophie: Eten Nederlanders haring als avondeten? |
| Gabriella: Do Dutch people eat herring for dinner? |
| Floortje: Tegenwoordig niet meer. Meestal wordt haring gegeten als tussendoortje. Of als lunch, op een broodje. |
| Gabriella: Nowadays not anymore. Herring is usually eaten as a snack. Or for lunch, served on a bread roll. |
| Sophie: Neem jij dan een foto, als ik volgende week die rauwe vis eet? |
| Gabriella: Will you take my picture, when I'll be eating this raw fish next week? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella:So the Dutch seem to have quite a long-standing tradition with herring. |
| Jacob:Oh yes, it‘s been an important part of life in Holland’s fishing villages and Dutch culture in general. |
| Gabriella:And is it really true they eat it by holding it by the tail above their heads and taking bites? |
| Jacob:Yes, it is! Although nowadays more people cut them into little pieces and eat them using cocktail picks. But if you buy a herring from a street stall, they’ll still ask, “Would you like it whole or cut up?” |
| Gabriella:Are there other ways to eat them? Do people fry them or deep fry them? |
| Jacob:Not so much, as far as I know. But some people like them pickled. It’s delicious! And the vinegar ripens the fish. |
| Gabriella:That all sounds so good. Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary and phrases. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jacob: vis [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: fish |
| Jacob: vis [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: vis [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: rauwe [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: raw |
| Jacob: rauwe [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: rauwe [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: typisch [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: typical |
| Jacob: typisch [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: typisch [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: tussendoortje [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: snack |
| Jacob: tussendoortje [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: tussendoortje [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: lunch [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: lunch |
| Jacob: lunch [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: lunch [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: nowadays |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: tegenwoordig [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: proberen [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to try |
| Jacob: proberen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: proberen [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: haring [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: herring |
| Jacob: haring [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: haring [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: broodje [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: bread roll |
| Jacob: broodje [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: broodje [natural native speed] |
| Jacob: avondeten [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: dinner |
| Jacob: avondeten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: avondeten [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella:Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. There are so many words about food and meals in this dialogue. Can you tell our listeners a little more about it, Jacob? |
| Jacob:Let’s start with breakfast. That’s called ontbijt. For most people, it’s not a very heavy meal; some tea and bread, or maybe cereal is quite common. It’s nothing like the big English breakfast! And then we have lunch. Although there is a Dutch word for it, middageten, everybody uses the English loanword, “lunch”. |
| Gabriella:Yes, I noticed that in the dialogue, they were talking about lunch. Are there many loanwords from the English or from other languages? |
| Jacob:Yes there are, especially from English, and especially in the business world. For example, IT companies use a lot of English words, even though there are perfect Dutch equivalents for these words. |
| Gabriella:OK, back to the meals. What else do we have? |
| Jacob:Well “dinner”, the only warm meal, is called avondeten. And then we have our famous koffiepauze, the “coffee break” at eleven in the morning. Employers have to give their employees a twenty-minute break for coffee. |
| Gabriella:And there was also a tussendoortje. What’s that? |
| Jacob:Literally it means “in between”, so a light meal or snack in between the main meals, which is usually in the afternoon for people that have a late dinner. And as Floortje tells us, it might very well be a broodje haring, or a “bread roll with herring” on it. |
| Gabriella:And raw herring! I thought only the Japanese ate raw fish. |
| Jacob:It’s actually not really raw, it has been salted, which cures it. But you don’t ask for rauwe haring or “raw herring”. You just ask for a harinkie and to eat it is een harinkie happen. |
| Gabriella:So harinkie must be the diminutive form of haring, like we learned in the last lesson. |
| Jacob:Exactly. It’s very informal though and sounds very native, so it’s one to use with close friends only! |
| Gabriella:Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella:In this lesson we’re going to learn about the Dutch conjunction als, right? |
| Jacob:Yes, exactly. It’s a very common word, but it can be used in many different ways, so it can be complicated. |
| Gabriella:Well let’s start with the easy part, if there is one. |
| Jacob:Probably the most common use of the word als would be the equivalent of “if” and “when” in English. The problem is that Dutch only has one word that means both “if” and “when”. |
| Gabriella:So how do you know which one to use? That sounds very confusing. |
| Jacob:Yes, well it can be sometimes. You’re supposed to know which one it is by looking at the context and the sentences before and after it. For example, if you say Als het mooi weer is, ga ik naar het strand, you could translate it as “If the weather is fine, I’ll go to the beach,” but also as “When the weather is fine, I go to the beach”. |
| Gabriella:So it could mean that the person will go to the beach if tomorrow is a fine day. So it’s a condition that has to be met. But it can also mean that he is in the habit of going to the beach whenever the weather is nice. |
| Jacob:Yes, exactly. It sounds confusing, but I think the Dutch usually get the right meaning. |
| Gabriella:Anyway, you said it could be used in many different ways. Can you give some other examples? |
| Jacob:Yes. Do you remember the sentence Eten Nederlanders haring als avondeten?’ |
| Gabriella:Yes I do, I think it was translated as “Do the Dutch eat herring for dinner?” |
| Jacob:Yes, that’s right. As you can see, it has a very different use. But it’s correct Dutch grammar. |
Outro |
| Gabriella:That’s it for this lesson. Dear listeners, thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoyed this lesson! |
| Jacob:Yes, see you next time, listeners! |
| Gabriella:Tot ziens! |
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