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- Topic: Dutch >
- "Ze praatte de hele tijd."
15 Comments
985
- 'praatte' is singular 'she'.
- 'praatten' is plural 'they'.
From English to Dutch, the use of 'she' makes sure you have to use 'praatte'. From Dutch to English you can hear it when the final '-n' is missing.
985
In colloquial speech the -n is indeed sometimes dropped. It's an articulation thing: the correct pronunication is definitely with the -n, but we Dutch tend to be a bit lazy every now and then ;-)
If I'm not mistaken, then all these drop-down menu questions I came across in various courses only had one correct answer. So it might be tricky with Dutch ze or zij questions if there really is a technical limitation to one correct answer (I wouldn't be surprised if that is how the system works.) I wrote a quick note to one of the course builders to make them aware. If this limitation is just my imagination then both this post and my note can be ignored. :)
871
I've had perhaps two or three multiple choice questions with more than one correct answer over the course of a couple of years. They exist, or at least used to.
1764
Yes, and am I not right in thinking final 'Ns' are not always enunciated (usually depending where the speaker comes from)? So even if it had been a "Type what you hear" question, I still might not have been positive whether it was "she" or "they".
815
I just love finding Dutch English cognates, Dutch is meant to be one of the languages closest to English but, if in this sentence if you use prattle instead of talk i.e "She prattled the whole time", its amazing to see how close the two actually can be.
1764
"To prate" is another valid and related English verb, albeit somewhat archaic now.