Learn how to describe the positioning of objects, which of course involves using prepositions using an informal conversation as an example
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Intro |
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| Peter: Goedendag, mijn naam is Peter. |
| Judith: Judith here! Upper Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 3 - A Visit From Your Dutch Friend |
| Peter: Hi, my name is Peter, and I am joined here by Judith. |
| Judith: Hello, everyone and welcome back to DutchPOD101.com |
| Peter: What are we learning today. |
| Judith: In this lesson you'll will learn how to describe the position of objects. |
| Peter: This conversation takes place at Paul's house. He has invited Marleen. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Marleen and Paul. |
| Peter: The speakers are neighbours, therefore they will be speaking informal Dutch. |
| Dialogue |
| Paul: Hallo, Marleen. Kom binnen. De koffie is klaar. |
| Marleen: Neem deze bloemen eens aan. Het is de eerste keer dat ik op visite kom. |
| Paul: Dank je wel. |
| Marleen: Wat ziet het er leuk uit. De bank staat mooi tegenover de televisie. En de salontafel staat precies in het midden. Die stoel staat ook leuk naast de bank. |
| : Je kan de bloemen in die vaas doen, die grote die achter de televisie staat. |
| Paul: Goed idee. Ik heb ook een nieuw vloerkleed. |
| Marleen: Dat kan mooi onder de salontafel, tussen de bank en de televisie. |
| Paul: Kom we gaan zitten. Wil je melk en suiker in je koffie? |
| Marleen: Alleen suiker. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Paul: Hallo, Marleen. Kom binnen. De koffie is klaar. |
| Marleen: Neem deze bloemen eens aan. Het is de eerste keer dat ik op visite kom. |
| Paul: Dank je wel. |
| Marleen: Wat ziet het er leuk uit. De bank staat mooi tegenover de televisie. En de salontafel staat precies in het midden. Die stoel staat ook leuk naast de bank. |
| : Je kan de bloemen in die vaas doen, die grote die achter de televisie staat. |
| Paul: Goed idee. Ik heb ook een nieuw vloerkleed. |
| Marleen: Dat kan mooi onder de salontafel, tussen de bank en de televisie. |
| Paul: Kom we gaan zitten. Wil je melk en suiker in je koffie? |
| Marleen: Alleen suiker. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Paul: Hallo, Marleen. Kom binnen. De koffie is klaar. |
| Judith: Hello, Marleen. Come in. The coffee is ready. |
| Marleen: Neem deze bloemen eens aan. Het is de eerste keer dat ik op visite kom. |
| Judith: Please take these flowers. It's the first time that I've come for a visit. |
| Paul: Dank je wel. |
| Judith: Thank you very much. |
| Marleen: Wat ziet het er leuk uit. De bank staat mooi tegenover de televisie. En de salontafel staat precies in het midden. Die stoel staat ook leuk naast de bank. |
| Judith: It looks so nice. The sofa is right across from the TV. And the coffee table is right in the middle. The chair is also right next to the sofa. |
| : Je kan de bloemen in die vaas doen, die grote die achter de televisie staat. |
| Judith: You can put the flowers in that vase, the big one that's behind the TV. |
| Paul: Goed idee. Ik heb ook een nieuw vloerkleed. |
| Judith: Good idea. I also have a new carpet. |
| Marleen: Dat kan mooi onder de salontafel, tussen de bank en de televisie. |
| Judith: That can go nicely under the coffee table, between the sofa and the TV. |
| Paul: Kom we gaan zitten. Wil je melk en suiker in je koffie? |
| Judith: Come on, let's sit down. Do you want milk and sugar in your coffee? |
| Marleen: Alleen suiker. |
| Judith: Just sugar. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, so i recently read that this kind of normal situation, you know where you visit friends or neighbours is not all that common anymore. Is that right? |
| Peter: That’s right. Like 30 years ago it was quite common to drop in on family or friends without letting them know in advance. There was a common rule that you visited between 10 and 12 o’clock in the morning and between 2 and half past 5 in the afternoon. But those days are over… |
| Judith: Those times, 10 to 12 and 2 to half past 5 - I am guessing this was to avoid visiting people when they were about to have lunch or dinner. Because if you were visiting while they are having lunch or dinner they would be forced to invite you. |
| Peter: That’s true and that’s still the case. You can also say that Dutch don’t like spontaneous visits for lunch or dinner. So they try to avoid that all time. Of course nowadays people usually go out for entertainment. They go to the gym together, go for a drink or have dinner at a restaurant but it’s not so likely that people meet up at eachothers place. It would be quite impolite if you just visited someone without calling them first to ask if it’s convenient, even if it’s a close family member, a friend or a neighbour. |
| Judith: So we can assume that Paul and Marleen made an appointment first and first agreed to meet at this time. |
| Peter: We can assume that and probably they made this arrangement a few weeks ago. |
| Judith: Weeks in advance? Wow, alright I know what I do when I go to the Netherlands. |
| Peter: Go to the Netherlands but don’t be to spontaneous. |
| Judith: Okay! |
| Vocabulary and Phrases |
| Judith: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Peter: binnenkomen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to enter, come in |
| Peter: bin-nen-ko-men [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: binnenkomen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: aannemen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to accept |
| Peter: aan-ne-men [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: aannemen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: keer [natural native speed] |
| Judith: time |
| Peter: keer [slowly] |
| Peter: keer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: visite [natural native speed] |
| Judith: visitors, company |
| Peter: vi-si-te [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: visite [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: op visite gaan [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to go for a visit |
| Peter: op vi-si-te gaan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: op visite gaan [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: op visite komen [natural native speed] |
| Judith: to come for a visit |
| Peter: op vi-si-te komen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: op visite komen [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: bank [natural native speed] |
| Judith: sofa |
| Peter: bank [slowly] |
| Peter: bank [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: televisie [natural native speed] |
| Judith: TV |
| Peter: te-le-vi-sie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: televisie [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: salontafel [natural native speed] |
| Judith: coffee table |
| Peter: sa-lon-ta-fel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: salontafel [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: precies [natural native speed] |
| Judith: exactly |
| Peter: pre-cies [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: precies [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: vloerkleed [natural native speed] |
| Judith: carpet |
| Peter: vloer-kleed [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: vloerkleed [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Peter: suiker [natural native speed] |
| Judith: sugar |
| Peter: sui-ker [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Peter: suiker [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Peter: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| 1: kom binnen" This expression has a different nuance depending on the tone of voice you use. When you are angry, for example, your tone will be austere and the phrase becomes a command "come inside! (now/immediately)". |
| Judith: But when you are being friendly, “kom binnen” is an invitation "please, come further". In the dialogue, Paul has invited Marleen so now he urges her to come further, to come inside. Okay, here I have to ask something. I noticed in the vocabulary we had ‘salontafel’ translated as ‘coffee table’ but really ‘salon’ is the living room isn’t it? |
| Peter: ‘Salon’ is the living room. It’s a word coming from French , like some other words in Dutch. And the coffee you mostly drink in the living room, that’s why coffee table is translated as ‘salontafel’. |
| Judith: The other thing I was wondering about is ‘vloerkleed’ (carpet). What are the two words in this? |
| Peter: The two words in ‘vloerkleed’ are; vloer (floor) and kleed (carpet). |
| Judith: ‘Kleed’ reminds of the German ‘kleid’, is it like a rope, cloth or something? |
| Peter: In official Dutch it’s not. The German ‘kleid’ is rope but also what you put on the table for example - the piece of linen to cover something. So ‘kleed’ covers the floor - vloerkleed. |
| Judith: Okay thanks! Now back to our usual program. |
| Peter: 2: "Die grote" means "the big one". This comes up in the sentence "Je kan de bloemen in die vaas doen, die grote die achter de televisie staat". It is not necessary to repeat "vaas" in "die grote vaas", and you also don't need another word as a placeholder, so you can very easily "die grote" - "the big one". |
| Grammar Point |
| Judith:The focus of this lesson is more prepositions. Because prepositions of place are a major group, here are some more of them. |
| 1: "Tegenover" (opposite, across). It literally means ‘opposite’. |
| Judith: Distance doesn't play a role. It can be very close by, like in the dialogue, but also miles away. It can be used for things but also for people. |
| Peter: 2: "In het midden" means ‘in the middle’. It is a synonym of "tussen", but when you use the word "precies" (exactly) we say "precies in het midden", not "precies tussen". |
| Judith: Okay, so we had ‘tegenover’ and ‘in het midden’ What other prepositions can we think of? |
| Peter: We can think of 3: "Naast" means ‘next to’. Not to be confused with ‘next’, as in ‘next week’. It is similar to "bij", but "naast" is more precise in stating that it is directly next to something and not merely close by. |
| Judith: There is also 4: "In" of course. The preposition “in” means , ‘in’ or ‘inside’ is the same in English as in Dutch. |
| Peter: 5: "Achter" is different. It is always used to refer to something that is behind something else, literally or in an abstract sense. |
| Judith: Can you give us some examples, Peter? |
| Peter: Of course! 5a: De stoel staat achter het bureau. (The chair is behind the desk.) |
| 5b: Ik lig achter met mijn werk. (I'm behind in my work.) |
| 6: "Onder" refers to something underneath something else, also in a figurative sense. For example |
| 6a: Mijn bril ligt onder de krant. (My glasses are under the newspaper.) |
| 6b: Er werken driehonderd mensen onder mij. (Three hundred people work under me.) |
| Judith: So in many ways Dutch prepositions are similar to English ones. This is good because it means you don't have to learn so much. |
Outro |
| Judith: Well, that just about does it for today. |
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| Judith: See you next week! |
| Peter: (Dutch Goodbye) |
| Sample Sentences |
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