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The other day I was listening to a song Eli sent me (Buiten Spelen by Kinderen voor Kinderen if people are interested) and I understood two whole lines by myself. "I'm going to play outside. Come with me!" I was very pleased. I was getting prases in the middle like "it's nice in the sun" and "I see birds" and then I stopped (I was taking my walk) and looked down at my MP3 player. Was this kid really singing about bird poop? Well, it is a kid's song, so maybe so. When I went home and googled the lyrics, yes, bird poop was (briefly) involved.
I've figured out a few things about Dutch. There are these syllables that go on the front of verbs (think un and re--and like un and re they are only useable with some verbs), and modify the meaning (not in an consistent way, alas, and some become detached from their verbs under some circumstances and some don't) and this is why the past participle is not always formed by putting a "ge" on the front of the verb--if it has another of these syllables on it, it doesn't get a "ge"; the past participle is formed in some other way. Hopefully this will be less random and confusing now that I have noticed this pattern.
Ik moet nu andere dingen gaan doen. (I must go do other things now.) Ik zal gauw meer schrijven. (I will write more soon.) De mammoetjes zein "Dag!" (The mimmoths say "hello!" (or "goodbye" the word is used for both.))
I've figured out a few things about Dutch. There are these syllables that go on the front of verbs (think un and re--and like un and re they are only useable with some verbs), and modify the meaning (not in an consistent way, alas, and some become detached from their verbs under some circumstances and some don't) and this is why the past participle is not always formed by putting a "ge" on the front of the verb--if it has another of these syllables on it, it doesn't get a "ge"; the past participle is formed in some other way. Hopefully this will be less random and confusing now that I have noticed this pattern.
Ik moet nu andere dingen gaan doen. (I must go do other things now.) Ik zal gauw meer schrijven. (I will write more soon.) De mammoetjes zein "Dag!" (The mimmoths say "hello!" (or "goodbye" the word is used for both.))
