Re: [Lingo] [NL] Word order

[David Stibbe gmail <dstibbe@example.com>]

Hi,

On Thursday 14 September 2006 11:21, Godwin Stewart wrote:
> Really? So it's a kind of irregular adjective in that you don't stick
> an 'e' on the end (and remove a 'u' to comply with spelling rules) when
> you associate it with a noun:
>

It has to do with the noun being male/female or asexual I believe.

A 'lidwoord' indicates the sex of a word.  Use 'de' for male/female and 'het' 
for asexual.

'De man'
'De vrouw'
'De kop'
'Het kopje'   ( de -je extension used to make words 'smaller' always results 
in 'het').
'Het woordenboek'
'Het verhaal'

results in

'Een mooie man'
'Een mooie vrouw'
'Een mooie kop'
'Een mooi kopje'
'Een mooi woordenboek'
'Een mooi verhaal'

 

> Mijn woordenboek is blauw -> Ik heb een blauwe woordenboek
> Mijn auto is wit -> Ik heb een witte auto
> Zonnebloemen zijn geel -> Men kwekt gele zonnebloemen nabij mijn huisje
>


Actually, it is 'Ik heb een blauw woordenboek.'. :P 

Again:
'Het woordenboek'
'De auto'
'De zonnebloemen'

> It's often the case that people don't pay attention to grammar and
> style when working in their own language. Many English people make
> similar mistakes in English, and the French do almost invariably in
> French. So, I suppose there's no reason why the Dutch should be exempt
> from this behaviour :)

Well, not knowing the official 'rules' of your native language doesn't really 
excuse not using them. It only excuses a person from explaining them.

>
> Dankjewel voor de hulp.

No problem.