Re: Grammatical Summary of Kemata

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> Then explain aardappels/aardappel(l)en (not sure). I've seen both
> with the same frequency, including in my learning book!
Well, I said that "-s" only occurs in certain cases, but I didn't claim the
opposite, namely, that "-en" isn't also possible in those places. Some cases
where you find "-s", "-en" is also possible (though some occurences are more
common that others).
Compare:
appels - appellen
tafels - tafelen (the latter is used in biblical context, especially when
referring to stone tablets)
nagels -nagelen (i.e. especially in compounds such as "kruidnagelen")

But not:
degenen, torenen*, eikelen*, loperen, toeteren*, hagelen*

(* these can be verbs or verbalized forms, however)

And then there are irregular forms which get "-eren"
kind -kinderen (from an earlier root "kinder")
rund - runderen
lam -lammeren

> I know! This is the most difficult thing in Dutch! The Dutch
> husband of one of
> my fellow students call them "Hagelslagwoorden" because you can
> sprinkle them
> everywhere in your sentences :))) . But how can you learn to add
> meaningless
> words? (which can be meaningless, but you can't add any of them anywhere!)
Well, the trick is that they are not completely meaningless! They add
nuances to  sentence. They are similar to words like "yet" and "quite" in
english, in that they can often be omitted without changing much of the
meaning.

> Oh well, I suppose that after some decades of practice I'll be  able to do
that
> to :))) . And I'm beginning to discern patterns to the adding of  those
little
> words. The problem being that I cannot process those patterns in  real
time. SO
> unfortunately my speech stays a little blank...
Well, "al" expresses impatience/expectation:

"Heb je dat gedaan?" (Did you do that?)
"Het je dat al gedaan?" (Dit you do that yet?)

"Nog" is probably the most difficult. It can signify a possible imminent
change (yet, still):

"Hij is niet thuis gekomen" (He didn't come home)
"Hij is nog niet thuisgekomen" (He didn't come home yet)

"Ik heb wel even de tijd" (I have some time)
"Ik heb nog wel even de tijd" (I still have some time)

"Hij heeft geen fiets" (He doesn't have a bike)
"Hij heeft nog geen fiets" (he doesn't have a bike yet)

"Ik heb nog" (I still have some) E.g. when someone offers you more tea or
coffee.

... or it can add stress:

"Hij is maar vijf jaar oud" (He is only _five_ years old)
"Hij is nog maar vijf jaar oud"  (He is _only_ five years old)

And last but not least "nogal", which means "quite" as in "quite nice",
"quite big". Or "nogal wat" (quite some)

Maarten

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