"De grijze rijst en het witte brood."
Translation:The gray rice and the white bread.
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Here in Belgium, "grey bread" (pain gris/grijs brood) is what we call "brown bread" in English. I assume the same might apply to rice.
Interesting! I know an Afrikaans family who call brown bread "vuilbrood" - dirty bread!
Oh! That reminded me of something! I saw "dirty" rice premade at the grocery store a while ago. Maybe it's the same thing as "grey" rice?
dirty rice is a Cajun/Creole dish that gets it's name because it's rice that turns a 'dirty' color because it is cooked with meat, onions, various spices, etc.
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If "grijze rijst" refers to what is known in English as "brown rice," then "gray/grey rice" should actually be wrong. Which is good, because the image of gray rice is not a nice one.
Grijze rijst isn't anything, I'm a native and I had to Google it. I suppose they called it grey rice as white rice looks slightly grey...
I would say no. I asked my online Dutch tutor and she said the same thing. She's familiar with brown (bruine) rice, white (witte) rice, paprijst (a dish of rice, milk and sugar, which translates as "rice porridge," but I've never heard it called that, so I don't even know what it is called in English other than rice, milk and sugar.) But my tutor has never heard of grey (grijze) rice either.
That doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist. Perhaps there are some people familiar with some sort of rice that is known as grey rice. Maybe it is cooked white rice that is dyed to look grey, or as Nierls suggests it's some sort of darker white rice, as opposed to say, jasmine rice, which is snow white. No idea!
She also mentioned that she saw that Grijze Rijst was the name of a band. I looked them up on YouTube and apparently they are/were some small-time, local Dutch band from who-knows-where. I posted the following question to their YouTube channel: Grijze Rijst, waar komt die naam toch vandaan? Grijze rijst heb ik nog nooit van gehoord. — So I'll wait and see whether (if ever) I get a response.
@Bruce I believe the milk/sugar/rice dish you are referring to is probably "rice pudding"
@Alphathon I believe you are right, although the stuff I was actually thinking of, which my niece used to eat when she was a kid, was really just cold leftover cooked rice out of the refrigerator, which she warmed up in the microwave and then would add sugar and cold milk and stir it up and eat it like some kind of nasty oatmeal. I don't have a name for that other than YUCK! because I would never eat rice that way – unless maybe I was starving to death.
I wouldn't over think it. They obviously chose grey rice since they share similar spelling, since both have 'rij' in the Dutch words
Maybe it is white rice cooked too long in a cheap aluminum pot :o ...and the rice with milk and sugar- I ate that as a kid- lekker!
Laurahya, hello, thanks for your insight. I am learning Dutch in order to work in Holland and or Flanders. Can you recommend me a town or area in flanders? Or bruxelles to target my efforts? Bedankt Clive
Know that Brussels is mainly French, few Dutch speakers, French or English will give you more job opportunities there
Even though rice looks slightly gray, I never heard anybody say gray rice just white rice :P
In Afrikaans your "wittebrood" is your honeymoon. Does it have the same meaning in Dutch?
There are multiple ways to say honeymoon in Dutch, but one of them is indeed wittebroodsweken, or "white bread weeks". A more common way is "huwelijksreis"
Thanks! I'm finding both the differences and similarities fascinating!
And some influence from African and Eastern languages. It's interesting that Dutch has adopted many modern English words directly, for which we have created original words in Afrikaans. My favourite Afrikaans word is "spookasem" ("ghost's breath") for candyfloss. Wonder what that is in Dutch?
Waar ik woon noemen we dat cotton candy. In het Nederlands is dat "suikerspin."
In response to Estelle, it is actually English that has adopted Saxon words (, i.e. Anglo Saxon) . And the Saxons came from the continent (Dutch/German ) forerunner.
Remember my father telling me ( he came to South Africa from NL when he was 12) when he went on a trip to NL a few years back after not speaking Dutch for decades he asked someone there about a rekenaar which is computer in Afrikaans
this might help clear the confusion up:
when adjectives are placed before the noun, the -e is added to adjectives:
grijs, wit
de grijze baard
het witte brood
(of course other spelling rules sometimes apply as well, like the s changing to z, and the double t)
the exception only applies when adjectives come before a neuter singular (i.e. het) noun which is preceded by the indefinite article (een). No -e is added in this case:
een grijze baard (de noun)
een wit brood (het noun)
you are better off to add the -e when you are uncertain about whether the singular noun is neuter (i.e. het) or not.
When the adjective follows the noun in the sentence, you just use the root adjective, without the -e ending:
Zijn baard is grijs.
Het brood is wit.
Because they are both preceded by a determiner (that is, when they are preceded by de or a possessive adjective -mijn, jouw, etc.- you need to add the final -e, no matter if the word is a common gender word or a neuter gender word.
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No, it's just not spoken clearly, or the audio is wrongly edited. Another crap recording - or it is a simulated voice.
'Grijze rijst' must be here just because the words sound similar. I had a listening question about een grijze ei and misheard it as 'rice egg'. This question helps with appreciating the difference in pronounciation.
Because it's definite. If it was een instead of het then it would be wit. All other forms use witte.
een wit brood (a white bread)
het witte brood (the white bread)
een witte muis (a white mouse)
de witte muis (the white mouse)
de witte huizen (the white houses)
I have a grammar question. If brood is a het word why witte and not wit? I thought het words didn't take an "e" at the end of the word only De words take the e at the end of the word?
Het words have -e when paired with het, and don’t when paired with een.
De witte auto - Een witte auto - De witte auto’s
Het witte brood - Een wit brood - De witte broden
Hmm. I also thought that "gray" was incorrect, (though it can be a name), but the colour is "grey"... But I use British English.
Can someone tell me why does witte get an "e" here. Its het brood. I don't understand. Pls help
Thank you so much....I did note it down and still get confused...this did help...
If "rijst" is "de," and "brood" is "het," why do both adjectives have -e at the end?
JohnWycliffe already answered your question in another comment chain.
Why isn't it 'Het wit brood'? I thought het words didn't take the ending? Can anyone help?
JohnWycliffe already answered your question in another comment chain.
Why is it witte brood and not wit brood? I thought we only add e to de words.
How can the colours of " de rijst " en "het brood " be ending with an "e" when rijst is an "de word " and brood is a "het word" ?
It works in the following way for the red house - a red house - the red houses:
het rode huis - een rood huis - de rode huizen.
and for the red car - a red car - the red cars:
de rode auto - een rode auto - de rode auto's.
So for het words only if you use "een" you don't add -e.
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The recording is "De grijze rijst en n witte brood". Sounds to me like a bum edit in the voice simulation.
A couple questions ago, "een wit schaap" was the correct answer because it was a 'het' word. Why is the correct answer "...het witte brood." in this case? It is also a 'het' word, so I would think the same rule applies. Is it just because it doesn't have "een" in front of the word?
Yes.
Een wit schaap - het witte schaap - de witte schapen
Een witte auto - de witte auto - de witte auto’s
Edit: and I just noticed I had already said this above
Milled rice can be shades of gray, but it is never given a Grade of No 1. It can range from Grade 2 down to Grade 5 depending upon how dark is the color gray. In the USA it rarely if at all makes it to market.
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Why not "De grijze rijst en het wit brood"? When do you use "wit" and when "witte"? Is it independent of whether an object is a "de" or "het" word?
It is dependent on whether it’s a de or het word, but different from what you think. De witte auto - een witte auto, het witte brood - een wit brood. This holds for all adjectives besides materials (so een houten auto, een houten huis)
This from Google should answer the question: "Answer. If this is the grey foam/scum that rises during the cooking, and eventually settled onto the surface and the pot itself, then it's just starch that gets released during the cooking process. While not aesthetically pleasing, it doesn't change the flavor or texture of the rice, and is fine to eat."
De grijze rijst en het witte brood
De grijze rijst en het witte brood grey and white