In this newsletter:
- Update from Syl
- WhatsApp list for lesson schedule & last minute offers
- What a dinosaur has to do with Dutch grammar
Update from Syl:
Dear ,
Three weeks ago, I fell down and broke my ankle. Luckily, I'm having a speedy recovery after surgery. I could even teach a two-weeks immersion course starting the day after my fall, thanks to a lot of help from my husband, the participants and a very nice colleague who took care of the group on the day that I had my surgery and many others!
You can see pictures of this course here. We even went to an escape room. It was a lot of fun!
Now I'm doing a lot of computer work, like going through more than 1000 emails and writing this newsletter.
Do you feel like me, that you are receiving too many mails from companies that just try to sell you something?
I don't want to add to your burden, so this is my plan:
I write a newsletter every one/two months, with some practical, useful explanation about Dutch, sometimes with something to download. So I won't use this medium only for advertising new courses etc.
To receive updates about course dates & last minute offers, you can join my WhatsApp list (not a "group"!) by sending a Whatsapp to 06-45185335. I will notify you when a new course is planned. You won't receive replies from others and you only have to react if you would like to join. I will not use your number for any other reason! Promised!
Please don't use this number to contact me for other reasons.
I can be reached at 035-6923960 / info@learndutchfast.nl
I will also try to update my site with new dates regularly, but the thing is that the courses fill up so quickly that I'm always too late with my updates ;-) So I'll have to figure out an other way to do this... any ideas?
Now, I'll answer the question you probably have after reading the intro of this newsletter:
What does a dinosaur have to do with Dutch grammar?
(Drawing by Loredana Dobre,
she had to laugh so hard when she heard about this rule ;-))
When you want to say something in the past, you need to know how to make the past tense of a verb. Most verbs follow a rule (more about this rule next year), but "lifesaving" verbs that are important in relation to a dinosaur are not following any rules, and you would have to learn the past tense by heart.
Examples:
To read/lezen? It is important to be able to read the sign "Watch out for the dinosaur" --- lezen - las/lazen - gelezen
To sing/zingen? I can scare the dinosaur away when I start singing --- zingen - zong(en) - gezongen
To run/rennen? No way, the dinosaur will just follow you and (s)he can run faster than you, so NO RUNNING! --- rennen - rende(n) - gerend (according to the rule for the past tense)
You can make up some other funny, short stories yourself ;-)
Don't take it too seriously, but this dinosaur rule works for most of my students.
Here three downloads you can use during your holidays to master the past of the most important verbs:
1. List of the most common "life saving" verbs
Good luck! If you have any questions, please send me a mail.
I wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy, healthy 2018!
Syl
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