Dutch (Nederlands)
There are 20 million speakers of Dutch in the Netherlands and in Flanders. Dutch is the standard language in the Netherlands, the Flemish part of Belgium and it is an official language in Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. Dutch, like German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic developed out of Germanic dialects. Afrikaans is closely related to Dutch, but it is a different language. In Indonesia (Java) there are still a few speakers of Dutch.
Some special features of Dutch
The Dutch language uses a number of sounds which are not found in other related languages: [g] [x] [sX] and the diphthongs in eeuw, nieuw, mooi, boei, zuil, meisje. As opposed to English, all final consonants in Dutch words are voiceless.
The definite article has two forms : de (masculine and feminine) and het (neutral), whereas English has only one form the and German still has six der, die das, des, dem, den.
The strong verb in Dutch has retained eight forms (of which only six are commonly used), e.g. in the verb vallen (to fall) : vallen, val, valt, viel, vielen, gevallen The English strong verb has fewer : (to) fall, falls, fell, fallen, but German has more : fallen, falle, fällst, fällt, fallt, fiel, fielst, fielt, fielen, fiele, fielest, fielet, gefallen.
Similarly, the two forms of the Dutch adjective (goed goede) occupy an intermediate position between the unchanging English form good and the more numerous German ones gut, guter, gute, gutes, gutem, guten.
All Germanic languages share the ability to form derivatives and compound words on the basis of a single kernel word. Dutch makes a decidedly liberal use of this linguistic feature.
Source: The language of twenty million Dutch and Flemish people, O. Vandeputte / P. Vincent / T. Hermans, Stichting Ons Erfdeel vzw, 1997.
There are 20 million speakers of Dutch in the Netherlands and in Flanders. Dutch is the standard language in the Netherlands, the Flemish part of Belgium and it is an official language in Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. Dutch, like German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic developed out of Germanic dialects. Afrikaans is closely related to Dutch, but it is a different language. In Indonesia (Java) there are still a few speakers of Dutch.
Some special features of Dutch
The Dutch language uses a number of sounds which are not found in other related languages: [g] [x] [sX] and the diphthongs in eeuw, nieuw, mooi, boei, zuil, meisje. As opposed to English, all final consonants in Dutch words are voiceless.
The definite article has two forms : de (masculine and feminine) and het (neutral), whereas English has only one form the and German still has six der, die das, des, dem, den.
The strong verb in Dutch has retained eight forms (of which only six are commonly used), e.g. in the verb vallen (to fall) : vallen, val, valt, viel, vielen, gevallen The English strong verb has fewer : (to) fall, falls, fell, fallen, but German has more : fallen, falle, fällst, fällt, fallt, fiel, fielst, fielt, fielen, fiele, fielest, fielet, gefallen.
Similarly, the two forms of the Dutch adjective (goed goede) occupy an intermediate position between the unchanging English form good and the more numerous German ones gut, guter, gute, gutes, gutem, guten.
All Germanic languages share the ability to form derivatives and compound words on the basis of a single kernel word. Dutch makes a decidedly liberal use of this linguistic feature.
Source: The language of twenty million Dutch and Flemish people, O. Vandeputte / P. Vincent / T. Hermans, Stichting Ons Erfdeel vzw, 1997.