"I am from Belgium."

Translation: Ik kom uit België.

[JaoDoAgreste]

Ik ben uit belgië, why is it wrong?

[xMerrie]

It's too literal. We don't say it like that. ;)

Ik ben Belg - I am Belgian

Ik kom uit België - I am from Belgium

[JaoDoAgreste]

Bedankt

[olyakorikosha]

Thanks.

Ik kom vanuit Belgie.

Ik ben vanuit Belgie. - are both incorrect or Ik kom vanuit Belgie. still acceptable?

[xMerrie]

'Ik kom vanuit België' is possible, if you are travelling and you travelled through/from Belgium to the place you are when you say this. But if you want to say that you were born or you live in Belgium, only 'Ik kom uit België" is correct.

[olyakorikosha]

Many thanks xMerrie. So "I originate from Belgium." is only translated as
"Ik kom uit België." NOT "Ik kom vanuit België." or "Ik ben vanuit België." ?

[dekempt]

ik ben van belgie is that also to literal?

[rebekasto]

It's just not the way we speak. We say, "I come from Belgium" rather than, "I am from Belgium". On the other hand, you can say, "Ik ben hier niet bekend" which means, "I'm not from here" although literally it means, "I am not known here", so there are some weird exceptions. If you did say "Ik ben van Belgie" your listeners would be waiting for you to finish the sentence with something like 'gekomen' which would imply that you had just traveled there and had recently returned, rather than being a Belgian citizen.

[wannes.bergje]

Actually the litteral translation would be the most correct as that is how most people living in Belgium that speak dutch would translate it.

[arnoldus]

Correct. Most flemings would say "ik ben van België".
It's wrong to prescribe Netherlandic idiom to a sentence which clearly can only be using Flemish idiom.

[Juncedan]

So, can I understand that "ben" in that sentence would be an auxiliary verb, like in French "Je suis venue de la Belgique" and you just would not say it "Ik heb vanaf Spanien gekomt", nor "Ik ben vanaf Spanien"?

[OliverSisk]

I have a Flemish friend and he says, Belgian people have the same alphabet as us......

[Johan232960]

Yes, but since 1830 a lot of words and sentences has changed. I am a Belgium and we say: Ik ben van Belgie. People in the Netherlands do not say so.

[melynas.pi]

I tought there were no special letters in thsi language

[BarbaraMas29566]

I don't know what you mean as dyslexic and not fluent in Dutch (far from it). I struggle as it is but still enjoy completing the lessons. I've probably misunderstood a grammar rule.

[Zii]

I am disappointed there doesn't seem to be the normal spoken example for this one... Not exactly sure how to pronounce België. Oh well I'll figure it out, but it would be nice for a spoken example to be made available.