14 Comments
lerares is singular.
Leraar = Male teacher (or general term). Lerares = Female teacher
Plural = Leraren (Male/general) or Leraressen (Female)
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I've heard teachers referred to as leerkrachten, at least in a primary school context. What is the difference between leerkracht and leraar?
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No difference. Both leerkracht and leraar (or lerares for female teacher) have the same meaning, namely teacher. The literal translation of leerkracht is learning power. You can use either interchangeably.
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Can you also say: Ik geef een appel de lerares altijd?
Based off of this: http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=WordOrder.16
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Sorry, no, that is not correct Dutch. Ik geef altijd een appel aan de lerares, or Ik geef de lerares altijd een appel. Words such as always (altijd), frequently (vaak), never (nooit), etc., come after the main verb in a Dutch sentence, never at the end. For example: Ik ga altijd naar de bioscoop = I always go to the cinema (the movies), or Zij gaan vaak naar de stad = They frequently go to the city.
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I just realized that the advice I gave you was somewhat misleading. If you have a simple sentence like I always sleep, in Dutch that would be Ik slaap altijd, so in that case the adverb does come at the end of the sentence. Here are some more examples: Hij eet vaak = He eats often, Wij slapen nooit = We never sleep, Jullie werken soms = You work occasionally. In the exercise sentence, there's an indirect object and a direct object, so that changes it.
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A question on gender and occupation in Dutch: It's becoming quite common in English recently to stop using gendered occupations (e.g. referring to females as actors, saying flight attendant instead of air steward/hostess). In Dutch is it still more normal to use different words for different genders?
Yes it's completely normal. I also wouldn't call it gendered occupations as loads of occupations have a female and masculine form.
