Learn how to talk about the weather
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DutchPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 14 - How Cold Does it Get in the Netherlands? Eric here. |
| Jacob: Hallo. I'm Jacob. |
| Eric: In this lesson you’ll learn how to discuss the weather in detail. The conversation takes place at a bus stop. |
| Jacob: It's between Tina and Bill. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Dutch. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Bill: Is het hier altijd zo koud? |
| Tina: Sommige winters zijn heel koud, met veel sneeuw en ijs. Soms is het milder. |
| Bill: Ik ben dat niet gewend. In het zuidwesten van Engeland is het altijd mild. |
| Tina: En hoe zijn de zomers daar? |
| Bill: Heerlijk, je kunt bijna altijd zwemmen. |
| Tina: Hier zijn de zomers ook heel wisselend. Soms koud en regenachtig, soms heerlijk. |
| Bill: Is het weleens echt heet? |
| Tina: Nee, niet echt. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Bill: Is it always this cold here? |
| Tina: Some winters are very cold, with lots of snow and ice. Sometimes it's milder. |
| Bill: I'm not used to that. In the south-west of England it's always mild. |
| Tina: And how are the summers over there? |
| Bill: Lovely, you can almost always go for a swim. |
| Tina: Here the summers are really variable as well. Sometimes it’s cold and rainy, sometimes very nice. |
| Bill: Does it ever get very hot? |
| Tina: No, not really. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: It seems like the Dutch have adapted to the rough geographical conditions and weather in their region very well. |
| Jacob: That’s right. The name of the country, the Netherlands, literally means “the Lowlands.” |
| Eric: Like the name says, many parts of the country are lowlands, right? |
| Jacob: Yes. For example, the highest point in Holland is only 323 meters above sea level. The rest is basically a very large river delta with a lot of polders around it. A polder is reclaimed land with dikes around it. This means Holland has basically no natural protection against the sea. |
| Eric: So this was the reason for the massive natural disasters too, right? When southwestern storms used to hit the coast, large parts of the country were flooded. |
| Jacob: That’s correct. Therefore, soon after the Second World War the Dutch started a mega project called the Delta Works. It’s a vast system of dikes, dams, and locks, and it’s known as the seventh world wonder. Now the project is finished so Holland is fully protected against the sea. |
| Eric: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Jacob: altijd [natural native speed] |
| Eric: always |
| Jacob: al-tijd [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: altijd [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: koud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: cold |
| Jacob: koud [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: koud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: sommige [natural native speed] |
| Eric: some |
| Jacob: som-mige [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: sommige [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: winter [natural native speed] |
| Eric: winter |
| Jacob: win-ter [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: winter [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: mild [natural native speed] |
| Eric: mild |
| Jacob: mild [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: mild [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: heerlijk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: delicious, lovely, very nice |
| Jacob: heer-lijk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: heerlijk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have |
| Jacob: zomer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: summer |
| Jacob: zo-mer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zomer [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have |
| Jacob: zwemmen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to swim |
| Jacob: zwem-men [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: zwemmen [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Jacob: wisselend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: variable, changeable |
| Jacob: wis-sel-end [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: wisselend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Jacob: echt [natural native speed] |
| Eric: real, truly |
| Jacob: echt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jacob: echt [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Jacob: Een heel milde winter. |
| Eric: meaning "A very mild winter." A mild winter means that the winter is mild compared to most winters in the same area. |
| Jacob: In this phrase we have the adverb heel which means “very,” and it’s used to emphasize the adjective mild which means “mild.” |
| Eric: So that means it’s not just a mild winter but an extremely mild winter, or a very mild winter. |
| Jacob: Right. By the way, in spoken language the word heel is sometimes pronounced as hele. This is completely accepted and not a mistake, but in formal written language heel should be used. |
| Eric: Can you give us examples? How can we say “a very nice holiday”? |
| Jacob: If you use heel to mean “very,” you can say Een heel fijne vakantie. But if you use hele in spoken Dutch, it will be Een hele fijne vakantie. Both have the same meaning and both are correct. |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Jacob: Nee, niet echt. |
| Eric: meaning "No. not really." |
| Jacob: This can be used almost every day. For example, if someone asks Regent het? |
| Eric: “Is it raining?” |
| Jacob: You can simply say Nee, niet echt. It literally means “no, not really” but can be used to mean "I see a few drops, but it's not really rain." |
| Eric: Be careful, though. Just as in English, when the word order is changed, the meaning changes completely. |
| Jacob: That’s right. For example, if you say Nee, echt niet, by changing the order of niet and echt, the meaning changes. Nee echt niet means something like “No truly, I didn't” and it can be used to defend yourself after you have been accused of something. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Jacob: Sure. If someone says Heb jij het laatste koekje opgegeten? |
| Eric: “Did you eat the last cookie?” |
| Jacob: You can answer by saying.. Nee, echt niet |
| Eric: “No, truly, I didn't.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson you’ll learn how to talk about the weather in detail. In the dialogue we had some useful expressions that you can use for discussing the climate. |
| Jacob: That’s right. Let’s go over them. |
| Eric: In the dialogue, Bill asks if it’s always that cold in Holland. Then Tina answered.. |
| Jacob: Sommige winters zijn heel koud |
| Eric: which means “some winters are very cold.” |
| Jacob: In this sentence, we have... Sommige, which in English means “some” or “certain.” |
| Eric: Dutch people prefer to discuss things specifically, so it’s better to say “some winters,” not simply “winters.” |
| Jacob: Then we have koud meaning “cold”. This word can be used in different situations, for example.. Het is koud. |
| Eric: “It is cold.” |
| Jacob: Ik heb het koud. |
| Eric: “I feel cold” or “I am cold.” |
| Jacob: Het is een koud persoon. |
| Eric: “He or she is a cold person.” |
| Jacob: Ik ben verkouden. |
| Eric: “I have a cold.” Alright, next we have the line with the phrase “used to.” |
| Jacob: Right. We have.. Ik ben dat niet gewend. |
| Eric: “I'm not used to that.” When talking about the weather you might want to use this expression, especially if the Dutch weather is different from the weather in your country. |
| Jacob: Here we have the verb gewend, and it’s the infinitive of the verb wennen. It means “to get used to.” So Ik ben dat gewend is “I’m used to it.” Or, in a different way, Ik ben dat niet gewend, |
| Eric: which would be "I'm not used to that." Is this phrase formal or informal? |
| Jacob: You can use it in both cases. |
| Eric: Got it. In the dialogue, we also had some adverbs that we can use when discussing how often some weather conditions happen. |
| Jacob: Right. Let me go over one line from the dialogue. Soms koud en regenachtig, soms heerlijk. |
| Eric: “Sometimes it’s cold and rainy, sometimes very nice.” |
| Jacob: Here we have the word soms meaning “sometimes,” and it’s used twice in one sentence. Also, we have.. In het zuidwesten van Engeland is het altijd mild. |
| Eric: “In the south-west of England it's always mild.” Listeners, we also have useful expressions for discussing weather in the lesson notes, so make sure to check those out. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Jacob: Tot Ziens! |
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