Re: NATLANG: Dutch (jara: Has anyone made a real conlang?)

 --- Christophe Grandsire skrzypszy:

> >"als" is absolutely not incorrect, but "wanneer" still has my preference.
> >It's the same thing with "if" and "when", I guess.
>
> I have difficulties personally knowing when to use "als" and when to use
> "wanneer". Is there a rule?
Well, I could say that "wanneer" contains an expected "yes", while "als" is in
general completely neutral. But I am aware of the fact that this does not cover
the load completely. I think it is mostly a matter of intuition, after all.

> I prefer Dutch over German in this case because its verb-final rules make
> for funnier word orders :)) . I especially like the fact that even after
> final verbs, you can add some complements, which seems to give them more
> importance.
Both are verb-final. The difference appears when there are more verbs than one.
In German, the verb that changes when you put the sentence in the past tense
(how do you call that? In Dutch it is "persoonsvorm") comes last, while in
Dutch the action that it is all about comes last.

For example:
Dutch: "Als ik niet kan gaan vissen, blijf ik thuis."
German: "Wenn ich nicht fischen gehen kann, bleibe ich zu Hause."

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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