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d, t or dt?
walk
When you write a verb in the present tense, you must choose to use a d, t or dt with the sentences with you, he, she and het (or if you use names or call the third person singular). You can also temporarily replace the word with the word ‘loop’ to hear for yourself whether there is a t after the word or not.
- Make the word as if you put ‘I’ before it (= stem): I become.
- Stick a t behind it: you become.
Example
Good: You / he / she / it will be.
Error: You / he / she / it wort and you / he / she / it becomes.
Note: is there ‘you / you’ behind put the verb, then you don’t use t.
Example
Good: Are you walking?
Wrong: Are you walking?
In the present tense singular, therefore, only this question is important: should a t be added to the stem (= the entire verb without -en), or not? That question can only be answered by looking for the topic.
Extra information
Note that even if the stem ends in ad, it will be followed by a t (you / you / he / she / it drives / guides / prepares / avoids). Also, in the present tense, no ad is ever added to the stem. In the past this is called ad. For example, “He changes the prices and he has changed the prices.” So the mnemonic of the coffee ship is of no use when it comes to the present tense.
Imperative singular has no t or dt. ‘Walk with me’. If you do use a person form, then there will be a t. “Walk with me.” In addition, a sentence sometimes has no explicit subject. ‘Do not; moves difficult ‘. You can easily add the word ‘the cupboard’ to this sentence. “Don’t, the cabinet is difficult to move.”
‘t Kofschip
When writing a past participle, you must choose to write ad or t at the end of the word. Use the mnemonic of the coffee ship for this.
- Remove ‘and’ from the entire verb: bark-en.
- Look at the last letter: barkF.
- Is this letter in the word: ‘t kofschip’?
- Yes: use ad.
- No: use at.
Example
Good: He barked.
Wrong: He barked.
Extra information
The mnemonic of the kofschip is only used in the past tense for past participles. It’s actually an easy way to add the law of sound. The law of sound is about ‘voiceless’ sounds (if you do not use your vocal cords while speaking them). The consonants from the coffee ship are therefore voiceless sounds.
Keep in mind that there are difficult cases that have a ‘v’ as the root, but an ‘f’ as the ‘I’ word. Think of ‘I live’ and ‘I have lived’. The letter f is actually in the coffee ship, but since the root of the word ‘life’ ends with a ‘v’ and this letter is not in the mnemonic, you should use the ‘d’. The same goes for words with an ‘s’ and ‘z’. Think of the word ‘whizzing’, where it becomes ‘I whiz’ and ‘I have whistled’.
If you want to conjugate English words that are also used in Dutch, you can change the mnemonic to ‘ecstasy coffee shop’. Some examples are: ‘mounted’ and ‘faxed’.
Their / them
Only use ‘hun’ if you include a noun after it. You do this when you indicate that something is theirs, for example ‘their house’.
Example
Good: The home of them.
Wrong: Their house.
Example
Good: They bought a house.
Wrong: They bought a house.
Extra information
In everyday language, less distinction is made between them and them. In the spoken language it is therefore not often seen as wrong. However, ‘their’ as a subject, so ‘they bought a house’, remains wrong. Also, their and them can only be used for persons. If you are talking about an object, you must use ‘them’. “I’ll pick up the kids and leave them to you.”
There are possibilities to use ‘hun’. However, it is difficult to learn a rule for this, as it differs per verb (give up: I even rejected my house – reject: she rejected them). If in doubt, look this up, for example on the Onze Taal website.
Forests
Wouden as a verb is wrong. Woods is a collection of forests, that’s all it is.
Example
Good: They wanted.
Wrong: They wanted.
Extra information
You just learned that the verb is wrong as a verb. However, wanted (d) and occurs in Middle Dutch texts. The shape originated from the word wolde (n). Officially, wouden is wrong, but you can often encounter this in spoken language (especially in dialects).
Apostrophe and capital letter
A sentence always starts with a capital letter, unless you start a sentence with a word starting with an ‘apostrophe s’. Then the s is written with a lowercase letter and the next letter with a capital letter.
Example
Good: It is dark in the morning.
Wrong: It is dark in the morning.
Want / want
An exception to the d / t rule is the verb to want. You don’t use t when talking about a third person singular who wants something.
Example
Good: He / she / it wants.
Wrong: He / she / it wants.
Extra information
With you / you you can use both forms, both ‘you will’ and ‘you want’. If the without t version inform then the with t version. Also keep in mind that if ‘you’ finds out ‘will’, you don’t use t, so it becomes ‘Would you like to get that?’
The history of the verb to want has stipulated that you cannot use t when it is a third person singular. The word was first a subjunctive mood. The verb first had no present tense and the subjunctive will (le) has taken on that function. No t is added to a subjunctive mood (“May he rest in peace”). Will was later also used as present tense, but it retained the characteristic that no t was added.
If or then
You only use ‘if’ in a like-minded equation. Only if something is the same, then you use ‘if’ and in other cases always ‘then’.
Example
Good: I am just as tall as you.
Wrong: I am taller than you.
Extra information
Note that this mnemonic can lead to errors such as ‘This dish is twice as good as the last’, because it indicates inequality, but this is not linguistically. Using ‘so’ means that you must use ‘if’.
Between-n and between-s
There are so many exceptions to the rule that you put an ‘n’ or an ‘s’ between two words that you put together, that when in doubt you have to look up the word or you come up with a smart solution. Instead of making it into one word, you can use five words for it.
Example
In doubt: ‘horse stable’ or ‘horse stable’?
Solution: The stable of the horse.
Extra information
If you still want to know the rules, these are the basic rules. You use an in-between-n when the word has a literal meaning, such as horse stable (‘stable to keep a horse in’), or when immediately the thought arises of more ‘versions’ of the first part, such as exchange of views (you cannot exchange of a single thought) or if the first word in the combination concerns one or more persons / animals, such as animal sound.
Irritating and annoying
If something is annoying, someone may be irritated or annoyed by the situation. The combination ‘irritate on’ is always wrong.
Example
Good: I am annoyed by language errors.
Mistake: I am irritated by language errors.