"De helft van het fruit is voor jou."
Translation:Half of the fruit is for you.
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Because 'yours' signifies a possessive pronoun form of the singular/plural 2nd person subject 'you'. Hence, the Dutch translation should be
...yours = ...van jouw
Half of the fruit is yours = De helft van het fruit is van jouw.
(cmiiw)
I'm still confused.
What is the difference between "van jouw" and "van jou"?
Don't they both mean "for you"?
And if they both mean "for you", why then can't it be equally translated as "yours"?
Van jouw is wrong it is either van jou or jouw. Both indicate possisive
- Your horse - jouw paard
- the horse is yours - het paard is van jou
Thanks for the prompt answer.
I have a question though... Can the Dutch sentence be translated as "half of the fruit is yours"?
If it can, kindly add it to the accepted answers. I do not remember clearly if I reported it as an alternative answer.
1392
The Dutch “half” is an adjective while “de/een helft” is a noun:
- een halve appel = half an apple
- een halve liter = half a liter
- een half uur = half an hour
- half Engeland = half of England
- een helft van de appel = one half of the apple
- de linkere helft van het huis = the left half of the house
Sorry, I have no idea why English puts the indefinite article after “half.” And I can't tell you when “half” becomes “halve”. (Edit: I mean in Dutch; thanks to jbrown for pointing out the possible ambiguity.)
- 817
Thank you for your interesting explanation. To halve is a verb, to divide something into two equal parts.
- 1392
Yes, in English “to halve” is a verb, thanks. I was thinking about Dutch, where they say “een halve liter” but “een half uur.”
It could have to do with “uur” being a het word and “liter” being a de word.
Unless... :D
Het halfuur is bijna voorbij. In this example "Het" belongs to "uur".
Or: That is only half true. Dat is maar half waar / Dat is maar voor de helft waar.
~ However, using "de helft" is probably a good bet in verreweg the meeste gevallen :D
Can you explain, please, when you use 'de helft' and when you use 'de half' for 'half'? Mhagney1 asked four months ago, but nobody has responded. Thanks.
When I read "de helft", and see a word that can be singular/plural "fruit", I assumed it was meant that a fruit had been cut in half -- and that each half was being shared.
How would you construct a sentence that implies this?
Dat half van het fruit is van jou?
Just to be sure, this means half of a piece of fruit and not half a pile, right?
The difference between a person's property and a person. It is like the "r" in "your", making all the difference.
(bezittelijk voornaamwoord) Jouw auto. = Your car. Uw fiets. = Your bicycle. Zijn huisdier. = His pet.
(persoonlijk voornaamwoord) Ik heb jou op zaterdag gesproken. - I have spoken with you on Saturday.
Another example would be (http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1149/) Ik heb jou jouw auto zien parkeren. - I have seen you park your car.
- 1392
Agreed that the difference is marginal but I think “is for you” means you did not have it so far but get it now (and you can accept it or not) while "is yours" can also mean you have had it for some or even a long time.
You might have a look at BarbaraCha360905's explanation below.
"Half of the fruit is yours" should be accepted. I wonder if it is an American expression or something, but when i want to leave half of my fruit for someone I always tell them "half of the fruit is yours."
- 1392
gabcab asked essentially the same, and lukman.ku answered. Wouldn't it be a good idea to comment in this thread instead of starting a new one?
"The half" and "Half" are different. Half is indistinct, "the half" suggests I split the fruit already, and have allocated you a specific half.
Why "De" in this case, if it's not "The half"?