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

 --- Herman Miller skrzypszy:

> Gaafste? Ik versta niet wat je daarbij [?] bedoelt.
"Gaaf" is a somewhat slangy word, meaning "cool" (lit. "smooth"). "Gaafste" is
the superlative.
BTW Don't be misleaded by German here. "Verstaan" in Dutch is not the same as
"verstehen". The normal word for "understand" is "begrijpen", and that is also
the word you need here.
"Verstaan" can be used in two cases: when you cannot understand somebody's
words because the person speaks unclearly, too quickly, or because there is too
much ambient noise; and when it concerns a whole language (in the latter case
it is more or less equivalent to "kennen").

Examples:
"Kun je wat harder praten?! IK VERSTA JE NIET!!!"
"Sorry, maar ik versta geen Engels."

BTW, "daarbij" should be "daarmee" in this case. The expression is "bedoelen
met" ("mean by"). "Bij" is quite narrow in its meaning: it is always "near" or
"close to".

> Maar denk ik wel dat het zeer moeilijk is. (How do you say "agree"?)
"het eens zijn". Your sentence would be: "Maar ik ben het met je eens, dat het
zeer moeilijk is".

Jan

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

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