Grammatica, episode four. Time words. English gets by with a fairly lazy set - when, then, ago, still, already, later. Dutch splits most of those in two, and the split is never optional. Pick the wrong half and you haven't got an accent, you've got a different sentence. Four contrasts do almost all the damage.
Contrast one. English has one word for when. Dutch has three, and they divide by tense. Toen is the past. Als is the present, the future, and anything habitual - it also doubles as if. Wanneer asks the question. Listen:
Toen ik binnenkwam, regende het. Als het regent, blijf ik thuis. Wanneer kom je? — When I came in, it was raining.
When it rains, I stay home. When are you coming? Same English word, three different Dutch ones.
Toen and als are subordinators (words that push the verb to the end of their clause), so binnenkwam and regent land at the back. And because that whole clause then occupies first position, the main clause inverts - regende het, blijf ik. Two word-order effects for the price of one conjunction.
Contrast two, and it's the same split running through the word then. Toen is the past then. Dan is the future then, and the second half of if-then. Listen to the pair:
Toen woonden we in Texas. Dan kom ik morgen. — Back then we lived in Texas.
Then I'll come tomorrow. Toen looks backwards, dan looks forwards, and they never trade places. Note that both invert the verb when you put them first - woonden we, kom ik.
Contrast three is my favourite, because it's a perfect mirror. Ago is geleden and it comes after the span. In, meaning in-the-future, is over, and it comes before the span. Same job, opposite directions, opposite positions:
Twee dagen geleden. Over twee dagen. — Two days ago.
In two days. And do not reach for the Dutch word in here - in twee dagen means within a two-day stretch, which is a third thing entirely.
Contrast four is the big one: al, nog, pas, and net. These are aspect words - they don't tell you when something happened, they tell you how it sits against your expectations. Al means sooner than you'd think. Pas means later, or less, than you'd think. They are mirrors:
Hij komt al morgen. Hij komt pas morgen. — He's coming as soon as tomorrow.
He's not coming until tomorrow. One word apart, and the second one is a complaint.
Then nog and net. Nog means still - it hasn't stopped. Net means just - it happened a moment ago and it's done.
Ik ben er nog. Ik heb net gegeten. — I'm still here.
I've just eaten. And the two negatives complete the grid: nog niet is not yet, the negation of al. Niet meer is no longer, the negation of nog.
One more, cheaper but useful daily. English says later and leaves you guessing. Dutch has a ladder with three rungs. Zo is any second now. Straks is later, but still today. Binnenkort is the coming days or weeks. Listen to the whole ladder:
Ik kom zo. Tot straks! We verhuizen binnenkort. — I'll be right there.
See you later today. We're moving soon. Tell someone tot straks when you mean next month and they will be confused, and slightly worried.
Careful with zo, incidentally. It's the same three letters as the zo that means so or like this. Only context tells you it's the time one.
Finally, a small gift. English needs four words for the day after tomorrow and four for the day before yesterday. Dutch needs one each:
Overmorgen. Eergisteren. — Over-tomorrow and ere-yesterday.
Eer is an old word for before - the same root as the English ere - and it survives in modern Dutch essentially only here.
Today's Brueghel proverb, and it's about time as well.
De dag met manden uitdragen.
De dag met manden uitdragen. — Literally: to carry the day out in baskets.
Meaning: to waste time thoroughly and with great effort - busywork that shifts nothing. Example:
Die vergadering was de dag met manden uitdragen.
That meeting was an elaborate waste of an afternoon.
That's episode four.
Fijne avond nog!
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