"Ik slaap naast veertien honden."

Translation: I am sleeping next to fourteen dogs.

[talideon]

And you'll be rising with many more fleas...

[hyacinth3704]

My first thought!

[BrianKoche1]

If a man has fourteen dogs unless he is a hoarder, and he sleeps next to them, it can safely be assumed that they are members of his family. In which case, the would have wellness visits to the vet and do not have fleas because he treats them with some form of flea prevention.

I train dogs for a living. It's possible he has sled dogs. Normally sled dogs sleep outside and have their own shelters. However, these could be very special sled dogs. The man may have very large kennels that can also accommodate him sleeping next to his teams.

In terms of training working line huskies and malamutes can be a bit headstrong. Sleeping with or near them strengthens the bond. The stronger the bond, the more a dog will go the distance to honor whatever his/her handler asks.

[Persikov]

Any particular reason that the first vowel is vier is not the same as in veertien ?

[Voidjumper_ZA]

I'm not sure of the linguistic reason behind this, but I just know that that rule follows. I learned Afrikaans second language and the same rule applies so any 'four' with a suffix. It's 'vier' for 'four' and then 'veer' for '-tien' and '-tig'

[jamezh13]

So would there be a slight difference in pronunciation, then?

[Voidjumper_ZA]

No none. Think of 'four' and 'forty.' 'Forty' also drops a letter yet we pronounce it the same.

[El2theK]

There is a difference in pronunciation, have a look at this website and listen to vier and veer http://www.heardutchhere.net/DutchPronunciation.html

[ralesk]

Hmm, 'vier' and 'veer-' have definitely a different vowel in them. 'Forty' is also a short o and four is long.

[SiobhanWray]

I don't really agree with what you're saying about "four" and "fourty" in English. As a native speaker I pronounce them both the same (no difference in vowel length).

[MentalPinball]

Four: /fɔː/

Fourty: /ˈfɔːti/

So, it's always a long o.

Source: Cambridge's English Pronouncing Dictionary, by Daniel Jones.

[hyacinth3704]

Might be dialectal, Siobhan. In my "accent" the difference between four and forty is very very small, but it's there.

[Serana_]

Lucky

[Marilaam]

How is the "d" in "honden" pronounced? Here it sounds like a "d" while it sounds like an "l" in other Duo lessons.

[hyacinth3704]

It shouldn't ever be an l I don't think...maybe a limitation of the software. The d at the end of hond can get devoiced to t but in the middle of honden it should stay d.

[Marilaam]

I know for honderd it sounds like an l. But i wonder still about hond Thanks for your input.

[hm437e]

And I thought a three-dog night was cold! fourteen must be bone-chilling!

[Leah-Rachel]

Shouldn't it be "naas", since we are using "ik"?

[ralesk]

The verb here is slapen, which is slaap (no -t); naast means "next to" and isn't conjugated.

[Davidcool033]

Why.

[deactivated user]

It sounds like ''naar'' not ''naast''.

[Jihel5]

You dawg