"Ze praatte de hele tijd."

Translation: She talked the whole time.

[ilmolleggi]

Is there any sound difference between praatten and praaten?

And while we're at it, don't they both often sound just praatte (that is, drop the final n)? Is there anyway to tell them apart beside the context?

[UnChienDEspace]

"Praaten" doesn't exist, it is "praten".
"Praatten", "praten" and "praatte" sound exactly alike, that is without an audible -n.

[MentalPinball]

Depending on the region: some speakers tend to always pronounce the final 'n'.

[Judas.bh]

Isn't praatten and praatte both okay here?

[vam1980]

• '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.

[Judas.bh]

Yeah but I was presented with this:
Ze ___ de hele tijd.
a) praatte
b) praatten
Can't it be both?

[Simius]

Yes, in that case both should be accepted.

[vam1980]

Ohhh.... I've never seen a question like that yet. As Simius said: Yes!

[Susande]

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. :)

[monkey_47]

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.

[Tina_in_Bristol]

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".

[chartsman]

Is there a clear difference in the pronunciation of "praatte" and "praatten" though? Many Dutch people don't pronounce the final "n" in verbs from what I've heard.

[vam1980]

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 ;-)

[Atamunu]

I tried several times, and I can't hear any difference between "praatten" and "praatte". So frankly, in a listening ("type what you hear") exercise, both 'she' and 'they' should be accepted, I think... or is there some pronunciation difference that I am just not getting?

[VanitaBalf]

Please report it when it comes up again. I think the creators of the course didn't realize the ambiguity of a few sentences.

[Zamn10210]

Yes, and maybe some time in the early 2030s they might actually correct it.

[KTo288]

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.

[Tina_in_Bristol]

"To prate" is another valid and related English verb, albeit somewhat archaic now.

[BertDijkhu]

again, no indication that a plurality of persons were being addressed

[VanitaBalf]

It's a bit weird when you enter "ze praatten de hele tijd" (it's counted as correct because it sounds the same as "ze praatte de hele tijd"), by it gives you "she talked the whole time" as the translation.

[Atamunu]

Why not "Ze praatten de hele tijd" -- "They talked the whole time"? Since the translation was not given (it was a listening exercise), there was no way to know if "she" or "they" was meant.

[AndrewHann716905]

I had exactly the same thing with another question. Singular and plural in the simple past sound alike so both should be accepted with Ze.