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Dutch/LessonFlemish
TheDutchyoulearninthisbookisstandardDutch,i.e.DutchasspokenintheNetherlands.Butwhat
abouttheDutchspokeninBelgium/Flanders?Isitthesame?

Contents
1Introduction
1.1WhatisFlemish?
1.2WhyshouldIreadorlearnthis?
1.3Whereisitused?
2Differences
2.1Personalpronoun
2.1.1Consequencesinverbforms
2.1.2Inversion
2.1.3Firstpersonsingular
2.1.4Secondpersonplural
2.1.5Objective
2.1.6Otherpersonalpronouns
2.2Diminutives
2.3Mistakes/errors
2.4Articlesandpronouns
3Vocabulary
4Pronunciation
5Seealso

Introduction
WhatisFlemish?
Flemish(Vlaams)istheDutchlanguageasspokeninFlandersandpartsoftheNetherlands.Itisa
specialcasenotalanguageandnotadialect.Ithasnoofficialstatusoranythingcomparable.Wikipedia
saysthatFlemishisthetermforalimitedgroupofnonstandardiseddialects.
ThislessonisaboutFlemish,i.e.thedifferencesbetweenDutchasspokenintheNetherlandsandin
Flanders(Belgium).Itdoesnotcontainalldifferences,butthemainones.

WhyshouldIreadorlearnthis?
TolearnDutch,thislessonisnotrequired.Ifyoue.g.wanttogotoFlanders,Flemishpeoplehave
certainlynoproblemunderstandingthestandardDutchyoulearn.Still,ifyouwanttounderstandthem,
itisagoodideatoreadthispage.

Whereisitused?

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Asyoureadabove,itisagroupofdialectsspokenin
Flanders.Flemishisspreektaal,thismeansitisnot
commonlyusedaswrittenlanguage,butasspoken
language.
FlemishisevenusedonTVprogramsandinschools(by
teachers).Inshort,peopleusingstandardDutchininformal
situationsseemsstrangetomostpeople.

Differences
Personalpronoun
Thesecondpersonsingularjij/jeisrarelyspokenin
Flanders.Insteadyou'dheargij/ge(instandardDutchthisis
archaicandonlyusedinreligiouscontexts).
Consequencesinverbforms

Flemishisspokeninthepartsofthelight
blueandorangeregions(1,22,23).It
containsWestvlaams(1),Oostvlaams(23)
andBrabants(22).21isNorthBrabants
and24isLimburgish.

Theformgijalwaysneedsatattheendofthefollowing
verbform(persoonsvorm).Inregularverbs,thisdoesnot
haveanyconsequences,butirregularverbsbecomeeitherregularorevenmoreirregular:

zijn(tobe):"jijbent"(youare,singular)"gijzijt"
Maybeyouthink:"Bent"endsont,isn'tit?Youwillhear"gijbent"too,butless.Forsome
speakers"gijzijt"isabittoodialectical.
zijn(tobe):"jijwas"(youwere,singular)"gijwaart"
zullen(will,shall):"jijzult"or"jijzal"(youwill,singular)"gijzult"
mogen(tobeallowedto):"jijmag"(you'reallowedto,singular)"gijmoogt"
IfyourknowledgeofDutchisgood,youmaynoticethattheseirregularformsareactuallymoreregular
thanthenormalforms(moogt<mogen(stem=mo[o]g)+t,insteadof"mag").
Inversion

WhenusinginversioninstandardDutch,youdon'tusetheending"t",i.e."jijbent""benjij".But
whenusing"gij",theending"t"hastostay:
"Zijtgij...?"
The"t"canalsobereplacedbyasofter"de""Zijdegij...?"
Insomesentences,withoutstresson"gij",youcanjustomitthewordi.e."Zijde..."
Whenusingthefirstform,withtheending"t",youalwayspronouncethatletter.Excepttheoften
usedform"zijtgij"(or,ingeneral,"gijzijt"canalsobejust"zijgij"/"gijzij".
Firstpersonsingular

Notethat"ikzen"isalsousedinsteadof"ikben".
Secondpersonplural

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Whenusingthesecondpersonpluralform,youcanuse"gijle"("jullie"instandardDutch).Thisform
usesthesameverbformsas"gij",whichisnotthecaseinstandardDutch,so:
singular plural
English youwalk youwalk
Dutch jijloopt jullielopen
Flemish gijloopt gijleloopt
Youseethedifference?
Objective

InstandardDutchtheformuisformalandjijisinformal.InFlanders,uisusedforbothformaland
informal.Thisisnotthecaseinsubject,butratherinobject.
Tounderstandexamplesentences,youshouldknowthefollowing:
singular
subject object
Dutch jij,je je,jou
Flemish gij,ge u

plural
subject object
jullie jullie
gijle ulle

Anexample(notethatthisisasentencewhichisverystrange,butitshowsbetterwhatthisisabout)
(English)Yougivethistoyou
(Dutch)Jijgeeftditaanjou
(Flemish)Gijgeeftdeesaanu
Otherpersonalpronouns

Theform"gijle"influencestheotherpersonalpronounsi.e.youwillsometimeshear"wijle"insteadof
"we"/"wij"(we)and"zijle"insteadof"ze"/"zij"('they).Notethat"gijle"usessingularverbforms,while
"wijle"/"zijle"usespluralverbforms,butallofthemhavepluralmeanings.

Diminutives
Dutchhasdiminutiveforms,andinFlemishalotofthoseformscanbereplacedbytheform:(...)ke.
Examples:
Dutch(English):DutchdiminutiveFlemishdiminutive
boek(book):boekjeboekske
huis(house):huisjehuizeke

Mistakes/errors
Therearesomedifferenceswhichareoftenconsiderederroneousratherthanjustdialectal.
Inthecomparativeform,theword"dan"(than)isoftenreplacedby"als",andthefollowing
personalpronounisoftenformedwiththeobjectwhereitshouldbethesubject
English:Iambiggerthanyou
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Dutch:Ikbengroterdanjij
Flemish:Ikben/zengroteralsgij/u
CompareGerman:Ichbingreralsdu
Theactiveform"noemen"means"tocall",andpassive"genoemdworden"is"tobecalled"
("heten"isusuallyusedinDutch)butinFlemishtheverb"noemen"isusedforthesecond
meaning(Thisisagallicism.)
English:Whatisyourname?
Dutch:Hoeheetjij?(orHoewordjijgenoemd?,grammaticallycorrectbutarather
awkwardformulation)
Flemish:[H]oenoemdegij?(litt.Howdoyoucall?butusedforHowareyoucalled?)
CompareFrench:Tut'appellescomment?(litt.Howdoyoucallyourself?)

Articlesandpronouns
ThearticlesandsomepronounsdifferfromstandardDutch.Inthiscase,Flemishislinguisticallyricher
becauseitretainsmoregenderdistinctions.
Indefinitearticles:InDutch,thedifferencebetweengenderhasnoorlittleinfluenceonthesearticles.
Nativespeakerscannotdistinguishmasculineandfemininewords.FornativespeakersinFlanders,they
justhavetofollowthisrule/thingtodistinguishthem:
Masculinewords
eenautonenauto
eenmanneman(nforeasierpronunciation)
Femininewords
eenvrouweenvrouw
Demonstrativepronouns:Someexamples:
Masculinewords
dezeautodezenauto
dezemandeze'man(nopronouncedn,tosimplifypronunciation)
dieautodienauto(itcanoftendifferslightly,e.g."dien"or"dienen")
diemandie'man/die'man(nopronouncedn,tosimplifypronunciation)
Femininewords
LikeinAN:dievrouw,dezevrouw
Neuterwords(dat,dit)
datboekdaboek(wordfinalletterswhicharenotpronounced)
ditboekdeesboek

Vocabulary
FlemishhasalotofinfluencefromFrench.Seew:nl:LijstvanverschillentussenhetNederlandsin
Nederland,SurinameenVlaanderenforacompletelist.

Pronunciation
Flemishpeopleoftendonotpronouncewordfinalletters.Someexamples:
maar(but)ma
wat?(what?)wa?
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niet(not)nie
...
WhileintheNetherlandstherisbeinglessspoken,inFlemishthehisrarelypronounced:
mogelijkheid(possibility)mogelekeid
Andofcourse,likeinthewholeareaoftheDutchlanguage(excepttheWestFlemishandLowSaxon
areas),then'inthesuffixenisrarelyarticulated:
Thissuffixoccursinverbswerken(towork)werke
Andalsoinpluralboeken(books)boeke

Seealso
Flemish(EnglishWikipedia)
Vlaams(DutchWikipedia)
Tussentaal(DutchWikipedia)
http://www.vlaamsetaal.be/awebsitewithinformationaboutFlemish(grammar,pronunciation,
...)
http://www.vlaamswoordenboek.be/awebsitecontainingwordsthatareusedin(partsof)
Flanders
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