This past week I continued working with verbs & the perfect tense. Having already mastered the basics in the previous week (as well as independently studying some important verbs), I focused a large amount on the various exceptions outlined in the pages after the main perfect tense unit in my textbook. For example, there are many verbs that become irregular in the perfect tense because they don't follow the typical ge- prefix, -d/t ending that regular verbs do (for example: compare regular lopen/geloopd to irregular zijn/geweest). Zijn (to be) is always irregular, but there are other verbs that are typically regular like zoeken (to seek), which become irregular in the perfect tense (gezocht). In addition, there are also verbs that will take zijn to form the perfect tense rather then the traditional hebben (to have). An example is 'wij zijn gegaan' rather than 'wij hebben gehoord'. Again, all of these rules need to be memorized on an individual basis, so I have been devoting a lot of time to mastering these skills. I've also learned the 4 modal auxillary verbs, which are: willen (to want to), mogen (to be allowed to), moeten (to have to), & kunnen (to be able to). These 4 verbs occur pretty frequently, and take the same form as the perfect tense, only with the infinitive coming at the end of the sentence rather than the past participle. I've also focused on a further 20 verbs approximately to improve my vocabulary. I've now learned most of the frequently occuring ones, including irregulars & partial irregulars.Dutch Language History:Dutch is a member of the West German grouping of languages. This language grouping is the largest of the three Germanic subtypes, and includes English, German, & Frisian in addition to Dutch (and as a result Afrikaans). Dutch also has strong ties to Northern Germanic languages spoken throughout Scandinavia too. Dutch & Afrikaans care mutually intelligible, as they are extremely similar in many regards. Dutch is officially spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium (Flanders/Vlanderen), Surinam, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean islands, Indonesia, and small portions of France & Germany. Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa (mostly the west) & Namibia.Dutch is one of the oldest European languages. Around 500 AD, its evolution towards its current derivation began with the split of Old Frankish--a language spoken in & around the modern-day Netherlands. The language spoken in the region for the next 500+ years was known as Old Dutch. It was during this time that Dutch achieved its reputation of being a sort of cross between English & German. Dutch didn't take many of the sound changes that German developed during this time, and hence is similarity to English which was independently derived from the same parent language. From approximately 1150-1500, the language has been termed Middle Dutch. This is when it evolved from an archaic language very similar to all of the early Germanic languages, into a much closer relative of the language spoken today. 1500 saw a huge push to standardize the language. This was facilitated greatly by the unification of the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century. Coupled with the fall of Antwerp, this was the motivational factor for Dutch artistic, economic, & trade dominance for the coming centuries. This international significance required/facilitated the development of a standardized language, and also allowed for it to be exported along with Dutch colonial dominance.Dutch has a pronunciation that is very similar to the other Germanic languages of course. Its pronunciation is unique in that every letter needs to be pronounced in nearly every instance. It also retains the ability to string together long sequences of vowels and/or consonants to make seemingly very complex words. At the same time however, Dutch is based on steadfast rules more often than not, and there are 'shortcuts' to interpreting the language, given that you are aware of the fundamental rules. Interestingly, the south has a very similar regional dialect to the south of the United States. Vlanderen & regions of the southern Netherlands such as Noord Brabant speak in a slower dialect with a distinct twang. This effects the culture in a manner that Jan has told me is very similar to the north/south difference in the US. Knowing the age & derivations of the language among its 2 counterparts of English & German should be helpful in allowing me to better understand the language as I learn it.
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