Please click to enlarge.

William

Part of it is that diminutive nouns always use 'het'.

https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=43& … e+in+dutch

I wondered what is a diminutive noun.

There is a link on the above page.

I found this page. Dutch seems to have a lot of them, with some having a meaning not obvious as a diminutive form of the original word.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_d … y_language

A rather nice example is the following.

> bloem (flower) → bloempje (lit. "small flower") This is the regularly formed diminutive.
> bloem (flower) → bloemetje (lit. also "small flower", but meaning bouquet).

I also found the following.

https://thedutchonlineacademy.com/en/grammar/de-or-het

William

Here is the image from the first exercise of the first lesson of Unit 2 of the Dutch course. The Welsh course and the Esperanto course also use the same technique.

William

William

William wrote:

The Duolingo method is unlike I have ever seen before. For example, the tortoise.
,
I have long wanted to learn Dutch. It is not one of the mainstream languages usually offered at evening classes and the like, namely French, German, Spanish, Italian.
Yet Dutch is in this song.
Nicole - Ein bisschen Frieden - Eurovision de la Chanson - diverse Sprachen - 1982
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwoYCTZPjO4
I have not studied German very much but I have picked up some from translations of songs.

There is, unsurprisingly, a close connection between Dutch and Deutsch.

The comma on the line after “For example, the tortoise.” looks rather lonely, William! Did you mean to post something else?

I don't know why the comma is on that line.

Possibly lack of effective proof reading before posting?

William

The Duolingo method is unlike I have ever seen before. For example, the tortoise.
,
I have long wanted to learn Dutch. It is not one of the mainstream languages usually offered at evening classes and the like, namely French, German, Spanish, Italian.
Yet Dutch is in this song.
Nicole - Ein bisschen Frieden - Eurovision de la Chanson - diverse Sprachen - 1982
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwoYCTZPjO4
I have not studied German very much but I have picked up some from translations of songs.

There is, unsurprisingly, a close connection between Dutch and Deutsch.

The comma on the line after “For example, the tortoise.” looks rather lonely, William! Did you mean to post something else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vauo4o-ExoY at this moment.

After breakfast, hopefully at least one lesson of Dutch, to keep my Duolingo streak. The Duolingo streak is a good idea, one lesson each day for about ten to twenty minutes, means, for me at least, that the learning is gradually retained. Each lesson is about fifteen Duolingo pages, and is adapted to how one progresses.

I will try to post an image from the lesson later.

William

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8lUfvbvpFY

https://www.smule.com/song/nicole-een-b … rrangement

William

Did you give up on Welsh?

No.

I knew some Esperanto from years ago and I am now revising and extending it. Originally I learned some Esperanto from a book, Teach yourself Esperanto, which I have had since the mid-1960s. I bought the Teach yourself Esperanto-English dictionary in the early 1970s in a large Birmingham bookshop "while I have the chance" as most bookshops did not tend to have the rarer Teach Yourself books. The Duolingo course has sound, which the book does not. I am following the course from the beginning.

Welsh I am learning from the beginning. I have long wanted to learn Welsh. I tried from a book years ago, but it brought in mutation almost from the beginning and I did not follow it. The Duolingo course is wonderful and has a way of getting going by asking the learner to click on a picture illustrating the meaning of an English word from three available upon which to click, the pictures each accompanied by a word in Welsh. The Duolingo method is unlike I have ever seen before. For example, the tortoise.
,
I have long wanted to learn Dutch. It is not one of the mainstream languages usually offered at evening classes and the like, namely French, German, Spanish, Italian.

Yet Dutch is in this song.

Nicole - Ein bisschen Frieden - Eurovision de la Chanson - diverse Sprachen - 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwoYCTZPjO4

I have not studied German very much but I have picked up some from translations of songs.

For example, I can sing the following with understanding the meaning, not just sing-a-long but a cappella on my own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g6bQ6Jug5I

One of the songwriters also wrote the following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmT_OldHrA

He is the man sat in front of them at the start and finish. In the full programme Gitti and Erika join him and the presenter at the table and they discuss music

Here is a song in Dutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X22vAmpZSdY.

William

It is great!

William

https://www.duolingo.com/courses

Anyone fancy coming along?

William