Re: Oooooo! I hates that varmint! Attn: Dutch speakers

On Wednesday 04 September 2002 08:00, Christophe wrote:
> En réponse à "Douglas Koller, Latin & French"
<latinfrench@...>:

> >  But one gave us "gij zijd", which
> > looks like it may fall in the same spot on the paradigm as "ihr
> > seid". But that was it! So in the present tense do I plunk a "-t"
> > on the stem like "jij"; do I plunk an "-en" on like "jullie";  or
> > is there some wildly errant form I need to know about? And do other
> > tenses behave regularly (I assume they do)?
>
> Well, my experience is rather poor here, but from what I've heard on
> TV from Belgian speakers who used 'gij', they use it with the same
> verb forms as 'jij'. The form 'zijd' is probably extremely biblical
> ;))) . Although now that I think of it, since final voiced consonants
> are devoiced in Dutch, it could very well be that they write a '-d'
> instead of a '-t' with 'gij', but with regular verbs those wouldn't
> lead to different pronunciations anyway.
No, we write -t if we use it at all, in the past tense as well:

gij zijt (jij bent)
gij waart (jij was)

Regular weak verbs:

gij hoort (jij hoort)
gij hoordet (jij hoorde)

Regular strong verbs:

gij gaat (jij gaat)
gij gingt (jij ging)

Strong verbs ending in -d in the past tense:

gij doet (jij doet)
gij deedt (jij deed)

Note that final -d and -dt are pronounced /t/ so it doesn't make a
difference. In northern (non-Flemish) Dutch, all the "gij" forms are
rare and the past-tense forms are extremely rare, and nobody will take
it ill if you say* "gij hoorde".

* Sing, most probably, if you join a church choir :-)

> Don't worry too much about 'gij'. You won't be expected to use it,
> just to recognise it if it appears.
Unless you're in Flanders and on first-name terms with people who have
it in their dialect, no. Anyway, the rules in Flemish are probably
different and don't appear in the Teach Yourself book (Ooh, I wish
there was a "Teach yourself Flemish").

   Irina

--
Vesta veran, terna puran, farenin.          http://www.valdyas.org/irina
Beghinnen can ick, volherden will' ick, volbringhen sal ick.

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