Hi guys, welcome to no-nonsense Nederlands. I’m on holiday, so no full episode today, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to practise a difficult sound: the sch.
The sch is spelled as S-C-H, and many learners have difficulties with it. That’s normal, because I have been told that Dutch is the only language with this sound and it’s quite difficult to pronounce if you’re not used to it.
So here are some loose sentences with lots of sch for you to repeat. At the end I have put in a couple of typically Dutch expressions. What I do want to stress is: don’t worry if you don’t get the literal translation of these expressions, or don’t quite grasp their meaning, especially if you’re not an advanced learner. Focus on practising the sound. And for those of you who do want more, I’ve put extra information on these expressions in the transcript.
Have fun!
He shaves the sheep.
Hij scheert het schaap.
Shake before use
Schudden voor gebruik.
Let’s shake hands
Laten we handen schudden.
He’s scared of his shadow.
Hij schrikt van zijn schaduw.
The pirate takes the treasure from the schip.
De piraat haalt de schat van het schip.
Wear an apron when you’re peeling salsify.
Draag een schort als je schorseneren schilt.
He damaged the shed with a shovel.
Hij heeft de schuur beschadigd met de schop.
The striker scored with a sublime shot.
De spits scoorde met een schitterend schot.
The earthquake shook the school.
De aardschok schudde de school door elkaar.
And here are some typically Flemish Dutch expressions.
Shards bring luck.
Scherven brengen geluk. (*As in many other languages, this is said when you accidentally break something.)
He cheated.
Hij heeft een scheve schaats gereden. (*Cheating = een scheve schaats rijden. You hear this quite a lot. The literal translation makes little sense, something like 'ice-skating diagonally' :D)
Anna made it big.
Anna heeft het ver geschopt. (*het ver schoppen = doing well in life, having achieved a lot professionally. Literal translation is something like 'kicking it far')
She made it to school principal.
Ze schopte het tot schooldirecteur. (*same expression. Het schoppen tot ... = Becoming ... , to indicate someone has gotten an important or impressive job.)
Clean up and start over.
Schoon schip maken. (* Again, the literal translation makes little sense, something like 'making a clean boat'. It's used to indicate you starting over entirely. 'De nieuwe manager wil schoon schip maken en ontslaat de hele directie' = 'The new manager wants a fresh start and fires the entire executive committee.')
That’s were the problem is.
Daar wringt het schoentje. (* Literal translation: that's were the shoe pinches. Used to identify the root of a problem.)
That happens a lot.
Dat is schering en inslag. (* I won't even try to translate this, because it makes no sense at all, but you do hear the expression quite a lot, especially in the news. 'Ongevallen zijn in die straat schering en inslag' = 'There are a lot of accidents in that street')
That's all for this bonus episode. Next week I'm back with a fresh dialogue for you to put your teeth in. See you then. Daa-aag!