Introducing Yourself: Countries & Nationalities
Introducing Yourself: Countries & Nationalities
Introducing yourself in Dutch uses a verb English lost: heten, 'to be called', which does the job of the whole English phrase 'my name is'. Countries and languages then bring their own capitalization rules, which run opposite to the ones for days and months.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Ik heet ... — a dedicated verb for stating your name
Ik heet Anna. Hoe heet je?
My name is Anna. What's your name?
English needs a noun phrase and a linking verb: 'my name is Anna'. Dutch has the verb heten, which means 'to be called' or 'to go by', so the sentence is just subject + verb + name: Ik heet Anna. The question is Hoe heet je? — literally 'how are you called?', using hoe ('how') where English uses 'what'. Mijn naam is Anna exists and is correct, but sounds noticeably more formal.
Countries, nationalities and languages are capitalized
Nederland, Nederlands, een Nederlander
the Netherlands, Dutch, a Dutch person
Country names, the names of languages, and words for people of a nationality all keep their capital letter — Nederland, Nederlands, Engeland, Engels. Adjectives derived from them are capitalized too: de Nederlandse taal. This runs in the opposite direction from weekdays and months, which are lower case, so the two groups have to be learned separately rather than as one 'proper noun' rule.
komen uit and wonen in: origin versus residence
Ik kom uit Engeland, maar ik woon in Amsterdam.
I'm from England, but I live in Amsterdam.
English says 'I am from X', using the verb 'to be'. Dutch uses a verb of motion, komen uit ('to come out of'), for where you are originally from: Ik kom uit Engeland. Present residence takes wonen in, and note that wonen means specifically 'to reside' — you cannot use leven ('to live, to be alive') for it, a distinction English collapses into the single verb 'live'.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- My name is ...
- English
- What's your name?
- English
- I'm from ...
- English
- I live in ...
- English
- the Netherlands
- English
- Dutch (the language)
- English
- England
- English
- I am ... years old
- English
- the occupation
- English
- Pleased to meet you
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