Formal Discourse Markers
Formal Discourse Markers
Written Dutch is stitched together with connectors that barely appear in speech — immers, overigens, evenwel, voorts, althans. One of them, echter, also breaks an English habit: it prefers not to stand at the start of its sentence.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
echter comes after the first element, not before it
Het plan is goed. Het is echter te duur.
The plan is good. However, it is too expensive.
English puts 'however' at the front with a comma. Careful Dutch places echter inside the sentence, typically after the subject or the fronted element: Het is echter te duur, Dit voorstel echter kost te veel. Starting a sentence with Echter, is increasingly common but still criticized in style guides, so the safe position is internal.
immers and overigens add background and asides
Hij kon niet komen; hij was immers ziek. / Overigens is de deadline verschoven.
He couldn't come; after all, he was ill. / Incidentally, the deadline has moved.
immers presents a reason as already known to the reader — the equivalent of 'after all' — and always sits inside the clause, never at the front. overigens introduces an aside, like English 'incidentally' or 'by the way', and does take first position, triggering inversion. Neither has a strong spoken equivalent; in conversation Dutch uses toch and trouwens instead.
Structuring markers: ten eerste, voorts, kortom
ten eerste ... ten tweede ... voorts ... kortom
firstly ... secondly ... furthermore ... in short
Formal argument is signposted with an ordered set: ten eerste, ten tweede, vervolgens, voorts and tevens ('also, moreover') to add, samenvattend and kortom to close. All of these are adverbs occupying first position, so each one inverts the verb and subject. Using them consistently is what gives Dutch academic and business writing its characteristic scaffolded feel.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- however
- English
- after all
- English
- incidentally
- English
- nevertheless (formal)
- English
- furthermore
- English
- also / moreover
- English
- at least / at any rate
- English
- in short
- English
- firstly
- English
- in summary
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