Hi, welcome to no-nonsense Nederlands. Welkom bij no-nonsense Nederlands. Fijn dat je erbij bent vandaag. Glad to have you here.
In this podcast, you’ll get to practise your Dutch in an active way, by translating and repeating sentences. And today I have a pretty hardcore grammar episode for you.
We’re going to practise a couple of quite difficult words that express consequence. You probably know them: omdat. Want. Daarom. En dus. They’re hard because they all use different sentence structures, sometimes inversion, sometimes not.
So this episode will make you sweat, but these structures are superimportant, and your efforts will not be in vain.
First we’ll start with a couple of similar sentences for you to repeat, to contrast the use of the words. Some come with inversion, some with a clause.
I’ll give you the sentence in English and translate immediately, so you can repeat, twice. After these practise sentences, you’ll get some more difficult ones to translate yourself.
SO:
She doesn’t talk to him because she is mad at him.
Two options here, with want and omdat.
Ze spreekt niet met hem omdat ze boos op hem is.
Ze spreekt niet met hem, want ze is boos op hem.
She is mad at him. That’s why she doesn’t talk to him.
Ze is boos op hem. Daarom spreekt ze niet met hem.
She’s mad at him, so she doesn’t talk to him.
Ze is boos op hem, dus spreekt ze niet met hem.
Ok, so now it’s up to you to translate sentences yourself. Today I opted for loose sentences, because that will make it easier for you to focus on what word to choose and what sentence structure.
I’ll say the sentence in English, and you try and translate. Then you can repeat my translation, twice.
First up!
1. I can’t go traveling with you because I don’t have enough money.
Ik kan niet mee op reis omdat ik niet genoeg geld heb.
2. My car broke down, so I missed the meeting.
Mijn auto viel in panne*, dus miste ik de vergadering. (*in panne vallen, in panne staan: very common expressions, only for cars and other vehicles)
3. You’re so funny. That’s why I love you.
Je bent zo grappig. Daarom hou ik van jou.
4. I don’t have enough money, so I’m not going traveling/on the trip.
Ik heb niet genoeg geld, dus ik ga niet op reis.
5. I’m pretty forgetful. That’s why I like to make lists.
Ik ben nogal vergeetachtig. Daarom maak ik graag lijstjes.
6. He can’t sleep because the neighbours are being loud.
Hij kan niet slapen omdat de buren lawaai maken.
7. He did it just because he felt like it.
Hij deed het gewoon omdat hij er zin in had. (*to feel like it, er zin in hebben (+verb or subst.)/zin hebben om te… (+verb) Heb je zin om te zwemmen? Heb je zin in zwemmen? Heb je zin in koffie?)
8. Today I’m not available, because I have meetings all day.
Vandaag ben ik niet beschikbaar, want ik heb de hele dag vergaderingen.
9. I felt like company, so I sent my best friend a message.
Ik had zin in gezelschap, dus stuurde ik mijn beste vriendin een berichtje.
10. Why are you mad at me?
Waarom ben je boos op me?
11. Because you send messages to your ex.
Omdat je berichten stuurt naar je ex.
12. My brother is always mean to me. That’s why I don’t speak to him anymore.
Mijn broer is altijd gemeen tegen mij. Daarom spreek ik niet meer met hem.
13. We have to hurry because we are already late.
We moeten ons haasten want we zijn al te laat.
14. I already speak German, so learning Dutch comes easily.
Ik spreek al Duits, dus Nederlands leren gaat gemakkelijk.
Ok so rest assured this was a difficult one. Congrats on making it to the end, and well done for making time to practise. Don’t hesitate to do this one again if you feel insecure about these words. If you have any questions, or maybe a suggestion or request, let me know at no nonsense nederlands all in one word at gmail punt com.
Tot de volgende keer, daag!