Thread: I don't understand

I read this text:
Meneer Van Dam is een man. Hij heeft een vrouw. Zijn vrouw is mevrouw Van Dam. Meneer en mevrouw Van Dam hebben drie kinderen. Henk is de broer van Wim. Hannie is hun zusje; zij is 15. Hannie is geen jongen; zij is een meisje. De familie Van Dam heeft een huis. Het is een mooi huis.

Is this the correct translation?:
Mr.Van Dam is a man. He has a wife. His wife is Mrs.Van Dam. Mr. and Mrs. Van Dam have two kids. Henk is the brother of Wim. Hannie is the sister; she is 15. Hannie is not a boy; she is a girl. The Van Dam family lives in a house. It is a nice house.

And these questions I don't understand:
Ben jij een jongen of een meisje?
Hoe oud ben je?
Heb je een broer?
Heb je een zusje?
Heb je een man of een vrouw?
Hebben jullie een huis?

Thanks for anything!

Ben jij een jongen of een meisje?

Are you a boy or a girl?

Hoe oud ben je?

How old are you?

Heb je een broer?

Do you have a brother?

Heb je een zusje?

Do you have a sister?

Heb je een man of een vrouw

Do you have a husband or a wife?

Hebben jullie een huis?

Not too sure about the "jullie." Maybe:
Do you(plural) have a house?

So you're learning Dutch now? From where?

Thank you for help Pravit. Well I am sort of trying to learn it, I found a good website on the internet. And my sister says she knows someone from school who is from Holland(But she is going back in February) and maybe I can meet her. My sister takes German too so she can understand some Dutch too.

It's amazing how I could understand every word of it knowing no Dutch, just English and very little German. Oh, and some Afrikaans. Or was I cheating?

Where is Afrikaans spoken?

South Africa. It's a language that developed from the Dutch who settled there in the 17th century.

Interesting. I have heard South Africans have accents, not like British accents, but accents. I don't know how to explain it.

How do you say in dutchFormally, and informally)
How are you?

*Oh and I found out "jullie" is the plural informal of "you".........like "vosotros" in Spain.(I beleive)

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

How do you say in dutchFormally, and informally)
How are you?

*Oh and I found out "jullie" is the plural informal of "you".........like "vosotros" in Spain.(I beleive)

"How are you?" - "Hoe gaat het?" /or "Hoe staan de zaken?" (Как дела?), or "Alles goed?" (Все хорошо?)/

And you are right about "jullie".

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

Interesting. I have heard South Africans have accents, not like British accents, but accents. I don't know how to explain it.

? Please do try to explain Everyone has an accent. South Africans, by some extraordinary coincidence, do actually have South African accents! And not British ones.

My apologies, yes. Is the South African accent from Afrikaans? Sorry for being unclear. I know their accents aren't British, they just remindied me of it. Though I haven't heard it enough times to truly say.

Kostja,
Thank's for your help! I appreciate it very much.
Hoe gaat het?" /or "Hoe staan de zaken?"
How are they pronounced?

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

Kostja,
Thank's for your help! I appreciate it very much.
Hoe gaat het?" /or "Hoe staan de zaken?"
How are they pronounced?

Hoe gaat het? - ху х(г)ат (х)ет
Hoe staan de zaken? - ху стан де закэ(н)

Спасибо

I notice you are in Moscow, are you Russian? Or a Dutch person living there?

As far as I know the letter “g” in Dutch is pronounced like the Ukrainian “г”. Is that true?

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

Спасибо

I notice you are in Moscow, are you Russian? Or a Dutch person living there?

I'm completely Russian

--
And yes, Dutch 'g' is something like Ukrainian (and maybe very provincial Russian) "г".

I can't comment on the Ukrainian equivalent of Dutch 'g'.But 'X' is the Russian equivalent.Allowing for accent of course.

Actually, "Х" has always been regarded as a very different sound from Ukrainian "Г" or English "H", to the point that most English names beginning with an "H" are transliterated into Russian using "Г".