Discussing a Noisy Neighbor Politely | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. De buur was gisteravond nogal luidruchtig.

   The neighbor was quite noisy last night.

   buur

   neighbor

   was

   was

   gisteravond

   last night

   nogal

   quite

   luidruchtig

   noisy

   More detail

   buur means “neighbor” here. It is a noun and normally takes the definite article de: de buur = “the neighbor.” A useful related form is buren, the plural: de buren = “the neighbors.” was is the singular past-tense form of zijn, “to be.” The useful chain is zijn (infinitive), is (present singular), and was (past singular). Example: De buur was thuis. — “The neighbor was at home.” gisteravond means “last night” here, referring to yesterday evening or night. Example: Ik werkte gisteravond. — “I worked last night.” nogal modifies the adjective that follows it and indicates a fairly high degree here: “quite.” Its exact strength depends on context; in this sentence, the fixed translation supports “quite.” Example: Het is nogal koud. — “It is quite cold.” luidruchtig is an adjective meaning “noisy” here. Its comparative is luidruchtiger (“noisier”). Its superlative adjective form is luidruchtigst; in an attributive phrase, the form is commonly de luidruchtigste (“the noisiest”), while a predicative phrase can use het luidruchtigst. Example: De straat is luidruchtiger. — “The street is noisier.” Together, De buur identifies the neighbor, was places the description in the past, gisteravond specifies when, and nogal luidruchtig describes the neighbor as quite noisy. The complete meaning is: “The neighbor was quite noisy last night.”

2. Ik hoorde harde muziek terwijl we probeerden te slapen.

   I heard loud music while we were trying to sleep.

   hoorde

   heard

   harde

   loud

   muziek

   music

   terwijl

   while

   probeerden

   tried

   slapen

   sleep

   More detail

   hoorde is the past-tense form of horen (“to hear”). In this sentence it is first-person singular: ik hoorde = “I heard.” The same form can also be third-person singular, but the subject here is explicitly ik. Present ik hoor contrasts with past ik hoorde. harde comes from the adjective hard, which here means “loud” because it describes music. Before this noun, the adjective has the -e form: harde muziek. The comparison is hard (“loud/hard”), harder (“louder/harder”), het hardst (“the loudest/hardest”); the form harde is not a comparative. muziek means “music.” It is commonly used as a mass noun, so it can refer to music without stating a number of individual pieces. In this sentence, harde muziek forms the object of hoorde: “heard loud music.” terwijl introduces a situation occurring at the same time as another situation. It is a subordinating conjunction, so the clause after it has its finite verb toward the end: terwijl we probeerden ... = “while we were trying ...”. probeerden is the past-tense plural form of proberen, “to try.” Its subject is we, so it means “we tried” or, with the ongoing situation supplied by terwijl, “we were trying.” Present we proberen contrasts with past we probeerden. slapen is the infinitive of “to sleep.” After proberen, Dutch commonly uses an infinitive: proberen te slapen = “try to sleep.” The word te marks this infinitive construction; it does not mean that slapen itself is past tense. Together, ik hoorde gives the main event, harde muziek identifies what was heard, and terwijl we probeerden te slapen adds the simultaneous activity. The complete meaning is: “I heard loud music while we were trying to sleep.”

3. Zullen we een beleefd bericht achterlaten?

   Should we leave a polite message?

   Zullen we

   Shall we …?

   beleefd

   polite

   bericht

   message

   achterlaten

   leave behind

   More detail

   Zullen we is a reusable Dutch way to make a suggestion or proposal: “Shall we …?” Here, zullen is the form used with we (“we”), and achterlaten remains in the infinitive because it follows this modal verb. Example: Zullen we beginnen? — “Shall we start?” beleefd means “polite” here. In een beleefd bericht, the adjective has this form because bericht is a singular neuter noun and it follows the indefinite article een. Compare the definite form het beleefde bericht — “the polite message.” bericht means “message” here. Its plural is berichten: twee berichten — “two messages.” achterlaten means “to leave behind” or “to leave something somewhere.” It is a separable verb. After a modal, its infinitive stays together: We zullen een bericht achterlaten — “We will leave a message.” In a simple present main clause, the parts separate: We laten een bericht achter — “We leave a message.” Together, Zullen we een beleefd bericht achterlaten? asks whether the speakers should leave a polite message. The question presents this as a joint suggestion, with we as the proposed actors, een beleefd bericht as what would be left, and achterlaten as the proposed action.

4. We moeten het vriendelijk houden, niet boos laten klinken.

   We should make it friendly, not angry.

   We moeten

   we should / must

   vriendelijk

   friendly

   houden

   keep

   niet

   not

   boos

   angry

   laten klinken

   make sound

   More detail

   We moeten combines we (“we”) with moeten, whose base form is moeten. After this modal verb, the main verb stays in the infinitive and appears at the end of its clause: We moeten ... houden = “We should/must ... keep.” Here the translation supports the recommendation “should,” rather than an absolute command. vriendelijk means “friendly” here. It describes the way het is to be kept. In this construction, Dutch uses the same visible adjective form after houden; the phrase iets vriendelijk houden is a reusable pattern meaning “keep something friendly.” Example: Houd het kort. — “Keep it brief.” houden is the infinitive of houden, “to keep” or “to hold.” In het vriendelijk houden, it means maintaining something in a particular condition, not physically holding it. The object het is a neuter pronoun meaning “it”; the fixed translation identifies that unspecified thing as what should have a friendly quality. niet means “not.” It negates the following alternative action in the contrast: the utterance recommends keeping it friendly rather than making it sound angry. Its exact scope comes from how the two infinitival patterns are paired, not from niet alone. boos means “angry” here. It is an adjective describing the sound produced by the second pattern. Example: De stem klinkt boos. — “The voice sounds angry.” laten klinken is a two-verb construction: laten means “let” or “make,” and klinken means “sound.” With an object and an adjective, iets boos laten klinken means “make something sound angry.” laten is followed by the infinitive klinken, so klinken does not take a finite ending here. Example: Laat het rustig klinken. — “Make it sound calm.” Together, We moeten het vriendelijk houden means “We should keep it friendly.” The following niet boos laten klinken supplies the contrasted alternative, with het and the subject understood from the first part: “not make it sound angry.” The complete utterance therefore means “We should make it friendly, not angry,” or more literally, “We should keep it friendly, not make it sound angry.”

5. Ik zal zeggen dat we door het lawaai niet konden slapen.

   I'll say the noise kept us from sleeping.

   Ik zal

   I will

   zeggen

   say

   dat

   that

   we

   we

   door

   because of

   lawaai

   noise

   niet

   not

   konden

   could

   slapen

   sleep

   More detail

   Ik zal uses zullen in the first-person singular to express future intention or prediction: “I will.” The subject is ik (“I”), and zal is the singular form; plural subjects use zullen, as in we zullen (“we will”). zeggen is the infinitive “to say.” After a form of zullen, Dutch normally uses the infinitive: Ik zal zeggen = “I will say.” Example: Ik zal morgen bellen. — “I will call tomorrow.” dat introduces the content of what will be said. In Dutch, a clause introduced by dat commonly places its finite verb toward the end of the clause. It corresponds here to “that,” not to a question word. we is the subject pronoun “we,” referring to the speaker together with at least one other person or people. Its form does not change for grammatical gender. door has a causal meaning here: “because of” or “due to.” This is the relevant sense in door het lawaai; door can have other uses, such as indicating movement through or by means of something, but those do not fit this sentence. lawaai is the noun “noise.” With the definite article, it appears as het lawaai (“the noise”). The article belongs to the noun phrase; het is not part of the noun’s spelling. Example: Het lawaai was hard. — “The noise was loud.” niet negates the following situation: here, the people referred to by we were not able to sleep. Its exact scope is understood together with konden slapen, rather than as a negation of lawaai. konden is the past-tense plural form of kunnen (“can; be able to”). With we, it means “could” or “were able to.” The infinitive that follows is slapen, so we konden slapen means “we could sleep.” In the negative, we konden niet slapen means “we could not sleep.” slapen is the infinitive “to sleep.” After konden, it remains an infinitive rather than taking a past-tense ending. Example: We konden daar niet blijven. — “We could not stay there.” Together, Ik zal zeggen gives “I will say,” and dat we door het lawaai niet konden slapen gives “that we could not sleep because of the noise.” The complete utterance therefore means: “I’ll say that the noise kept us from sleeping.” The future expression zal zeggen frames the statement as something the speaker intends or expects to say.

6. Voeg toe dat we weten dat avonden druk kunnen zijn.

   Add that we know evenings can get busy.

   Voeg toe

   add

   weten

   know

   avonden

   evenings

   druk

   busy

   kunnen zijn

   can be

   More detail

   Voeg toe is the imperative of the separable verb toevoegen, “to add.” voeg is the imperative form, and toe is the separated particle. The bare imperative does not itself mark whether one person or more than one person is addressed. In another form, the parts can stay together, as in Ik voeg een zin toe (“I add a sentence”). weten means “to know” a fact or piece of information. With we in the present tense, it becomes we weten (“we know”); weten is the infinitive. Dutch also uses kennen, typically for being acquainted with a person or familiar with a place or work, so weten fits the fact expressed here. avonden is the plural of avond, “evening.” This noun uses the ending -en in the plural: een avond is “one evening,” while avonden refers to evenings in the plural. druk is an adjective meaning “busy” here. In this sentence it is a predicate adjective after zijn, describing the evenings as busy. Before a singular indefinite common-gender noun, the adjective normally has the form drukke, as in een drukke dag (“a busy day”). kunnen zijn combines the modal verb kunnen (“can, be able to”) with the infinitive zijn (“to be”). Here it expresses possibility, not a person’s ability: the evenings can be busy. After a modal verb, the other verb remains in the infinitive, giving the reusable pattern kunnen + zijn. The sentence begins with the command Voeg toe (“Add”). The content introduced by dat is we weten dat avonden druk kunnen zijn (“we know that evenings can be busy”). Together, the utterance means: “Add that we know evenings can get busy.”

7. Daardoor klinkt het bericht zachter en duidelijker.

   That keeps the message softer and clearer.

   Daardoor

   as a result; thereby

   klinkt

   sounds

   bericht

   message

   zachter

   softer

   duidelijker

   clearer

   More detail

   Daardoor means “as a result” or “thereby.” It links this sentence to a preceding cause or action and presents the current effect. The exact cause is not stated in this sentence, so the word can be reused whenever the result follows from an already mentioned situation. klinkt is the present-tense form of klinken for a singular third-person subject: “sounds.” Here, het bericht is the thing that sounds a certain way. The same verb can describe how something sounds to a listener, not only a literal noise. Example: De uitleg klinkt logisch. — “The explanation sounds logical.” bericht means “message.” Its base noun is bericht; with the definite article, Dutch uses het bericht, “the message.” The noun can refer to a written or spoken message depending on context. Example: Ik lees het bericht. — “I am reading the message.” zachter is the comparative form of the adjective zacht, “soft” or “gentle”: zacht → zachter (“softer”). The comparative ending -er marks a comparison or a change toward a greater degree. In this sentence it describes how the message sounds, so “softer” concerns its tone or impression here. duidelijker is the comparative form of duidelijk, “clear”: duidelijk → duidelijker (“clearer”). It also uses -er, and it describes the message’s sound or presentation as easier to understand. The two comparatives are coordinated by en, “and,” so the message is characterized in both ways. Together, het bericht klinkt zachter en duidelijker means “the message sounds softer and clearer.” With Daardoor at the beginning, the whole utterance says that something previously established produces this result: “That keeps the message softer and clearer.” The Dutch wording literally presents this as the message sounding softer and clearer; the fixed translation expresses the same intended result in natural English.

8. We kunnen het later bij hun deur leggen.

   We can put it near their door later.

   We kunnen

   we can

   het

   it

   later

   later

   bij

   near

   hun

   their

   deur

   door

   leggen

   put/place

   More detail

   We kunnen combines the subject we with kunnen, the present-tense form of kunnen for “we can.” It expresses ability or possibility here. With a modal verb such as kunnen, Dutch normally puts the other verb in the infinitive at the end of the clause: We kunnen ... leggen = “We can ... put.” het means “it” here. It is a third-person singular pronoun; the fixed translation identifies the thing as “it,” but does not identify what that thing is. Dutch also uses het as the definite article “the” in other contexts, but its role here is a pronoun because it stands for the object being put. later means “later,” referring to a time after the relevant current or earlier time. It does not itself specify exactly when. bij means “near” or “by” in this location phrase. A reusable pattern is bij + [place or object], as in bij de deur (“near the door”). hun means “their” before a noun. It marks possession by the relevant plural possessor(s) and does not change for the gender or number of the possessed noun: hun deur is “their door.” deur means “door.” Its common definite form is de deur (“the door”), and its indefinite form is een deur (“a door”). In the fixed sentence, hun supplies the determiner instead of de. leggen is the infinitive “to put” or “to lay/place.” Dutch distinguishes leggen from liggen: leggen describes placing something, while liggen describes something being in a lying position. For example, Ik leg het boek op tafel means “I put the book on the table,” whereas Het boek ligt op tafel means “The book is on the table.” Together, het is the object of leggen, bij hun deur gives the destination or location, and later gives the time. The modal construction We kunnen ... leggen therefore produces: “We can put it near their door later.”