"Een jongen is een kind."
Translation:A boy is a child.
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This is so much like Afrikaans. I'm lucky I can understand this =) this is gonna be a breeze.
Think Sean Connery :). The English "s" is what's called a "laminate" consonant, that is, it's made with the blade of the tongue right behind the tip making friction against the alveolar ridge (the gums above and behind the top teeth). The Dutch "s" (I believe) is more of an "apical", that is, the very tip of the tongue is used to make the friction with the alveolar ridge. Northern Spain's "s" has the same "thick" sound.
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I don't think there is a particular pattern or way to know when to use "het" or "de" before a noun. You just have to memorize the objects which use "het" and the objects which use "de". My mom used to speak Dutch fluently, and she and others on Duolingo say that you just have to memorize which words use "het" or "de". It's hard, I know, but practice makes perfect :P
Well, 'de jongen is een kat' is grammatically correct if you want to say 'the boy is a cat'. However, 'is' can only be used for 'hij/zij/het is' (he/she/it is) in the present time, the other versions of that verb look different.
The full verb is 'zijn' as in 'wij zijn mannen' (we are men). The past tense of 'zijn' is 'was' and 'waren' (singular and plural respectively). The present perfect is 'geweest'.
https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/Dutch/is/267706417e9c2477cb77a67183c4ba65
The word "is" can mean "has" only with certain past participles after it.
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Last exercise I translated "Ik ben een jongen" as "I am a boy" and I was wrong. The right answer was I am a young man. This time with "Een jongen is een kind." I translated it to "the young man is a kid." and I was obviously wrong again.
When is "een jongen" refer to a young man vs a boy?
"a boy" should also be accepted for the sentence "Ik ben een jongen." but there may have been a different error as there is for this sentence. You cannot translate "Een" as "the". Also, did you even read what you put. How can you say "A young man is a child." If more than one definition exists for a word, always use the definition that fits best into a sentence. I do not know if Duolingo is accepting the informal "kid" for "kind", but if not someone could try reporting it with a sentence that is otherwise correct.
In Dutch, there are three articles: “de”, “het” and “een”. “Een” is the indefinite article, so when in English you'd say 'a' or 'an', in Dutch you say “een”. The definite articles “de” and “het” don't have very clear rules for when you're supposed to use which; this will mostly be learning by heart and developing a feeling for it. However, there are some guidelines to help you along: -Diminutives: het. Diminutives can be recognised by their suffix; they end in -je, -tje, -etje, -pje, or -mpje. -Infinitives used as nouns – the gerund: het. When the infinitive form of a verb is used as a noun (e.g. 'the walking of the dog'), Dutch uses ‘het’ (het lopen van de hond). -Words ending in -um, -aat or -isme: het. With the exception of nouns that refer to people (e.g. de advocaat, 'the lawyer') - people are always referred to as ‘de’. -Most nouns beginning with ge-, be- and ver-: het. However, nouns which end in -ing do not follow this rule: those always use ‘de’. -Plurals: de. Whatever the singular article is, the plural is always ‘de’. -Obviously feminine or masculine nouns: de. Gender is very difficult to tell in Dutch, but obvious words like 'woman' (vrouw) and man get de. -Nouns ending in -tie, -thie, -sie, -aar, -eur, -er and -or: ‘de’
This is why he is confused, but there are specific examples of when it can be "has" which requires a past participle from certain verbs. https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/Dutch/is/267706417e9c2477cb77a67183c4ba65
Dutch uses "is stopped" when we use "has stopped".
German native speaker with good english skills learning dutch with an english course. Yes, I am already starting to be confused. Half of the time they ask me to write in English I start writing in German before I correct myself. In German the sentence is "Ein Junge ist ein Kind" btw. So nearly the same as in Dutch.