How to use "u" in spoken Flemish (tussentaal) - important to know

[@jolaajtak7861]

Thank you so much! I learnt Nederlands years ago and watched the tv show WTFock (Skam Belgie) lately. I was really confused about the usage of u between young people. Now I understand. 😄

[@ProductofWit]

I once 'offended' a Dutchwoman from beyond the Meuse (Randstad) by speaking with the personal pronoun 'gij' which inflects to 'u/uw' like you explain here. She told me: "Kan je mij alsjeblieft tutoyeren? Ik voel me zo oud met dat ge-u." My other colleague (it was in the Netherlands) was speaking in Southern Dutch to me and I only was working in the Netherlands for one week or so, which invited me to speak more informally. Not everyone knows about informal Belgian Dutch or dialects or grammar in general. Which is funny because a friend of mine from Delft in fact does knows about Flemish Dutch, its peculiarities and its dialects and was taught about it in her Dutch classes. So a good Dutch teacher in the Randstad does tackle Tussentaal.

[@ramamonato5039]

"Who art thou? Who are ye"...such English questions, perhaps, would make someone feel old when speaking English. I am Indonesian, comparing Dutch and English contexts and not pronouns. I know that English "thou" cognates with Middle Dutch "du" ("gij" cognates with English pronoun xxx?). In Old Indonesian use, the words "engkau" ("kau" for short), "Andika" and "Kisanak" were used in films with the setting background hundreds of years ago.

[@barserturk1857]

Just discovered your channel, helping a lot. Keep going!

[@liviu388]

Thank you. Very clear and informative

[@Melvorgazh]

Nout, I must say: When I was a kid as started learning Dutch at a French speaking school they never taught us “ge” or “gij”, we were taught “je” or “jij” though. Not surprising it wasn’t easy to make much progress. 😐 Thanks for yer precious lessons! 😉 Thomas

[@eddyvos1585]

U is heel formeel En heel beleefd Met u te gebruiken kan je nooit kwaad Dan zeggen de mensen dat je een heel beleefd mens bent en goed opgevoed

[@angelicaestrada4937]

Eindelijk begrijp ik het verschil :) Bedankt!! please keep doing this kind of videos

[@alfonsmelenhorst9672]

This is almost the same as in Low-Saxon Dutch dialect, which is spoken in North-eastern provinces of the Netherlands. U is pronounced as oe and gij/ge is ie/j. Ik heb je gezien (ik heb u gezien) = 'k heb oe ezeen.

[@DutchGo]

Absolutely. Well spotted.

[@joalexsg9741]

Thank you for the lesson. I found the pronunciation of the sentences too fast for me, but pausing the video and reading the subs makes it easier to recognize some cognates.

[@colette3279]

Another tendency in spoken Flemish (tussentaal), amongst young people, is to use ‘u’ instead of the possesive ‘uw’. This is especially done in informal writing and is also sometimes heard in speach, when we are to lazy to pronounce the ‘w’ at the end, before a next noun starting with a consonant. For example, a popular expression in Flemish is ‘u moeder’, which translates as ‘your mother’. It is used as a slightly insulting comment. However, ‘uW moeder’ does not carry that insulting meaning.

[@rioneste2652]

Thank you! It was very helpful

[@peterdegelaen]

De toevoeging van de "en" bij "die" tot "dienen" ligt wel iets ingewikkelder dan wanneer het volgende woord begint met een klinker. "Die" wordt "dienen" wanneer het gevolgd wordt door een mannelijk of onzijdig zelfstandig naamwoord dat begint met een klinker of met "b", "d" of "t". (idem voor "uw" en "uwen"). Ik heb er geen idee van waarom het ook gebeurt met woorden die beginnen met "b", "d" of "t". Jij misschien?

[@mathildehensay4615]

THANK YOU ! One of my teacher told us « u » was the same as the french vous but that they don’t use it as often as us… Then while watching television or talking with flemmish i was really, WHAT ? they use it like much more than us… Now i get it thank you

[@batavuskoga]

"Is dat uwen auto ? of "Is dat uw huis ?" De eerste vraag is heel informeel. Er is toch een nuance in taalgebruik tussen de twee. De eerste vraag zal je horen in Oost-Vlaanderen en West-Vlaanderen, bijna nooit in Belgisch Limburg. Ikzelf woon in Belgisch Limburg , mijn moedertaal is dus ook Nederlands. En in Vlaanderen kan je evengoed "formeel" spreken, gewoon een andere zinsbouw gebruiken. "Is dat uwen auto ? of "Is dat uw huis ?" The first question is very informal. There is a difference between the two. The first one you will hear in the provinces East-Flanders and West-Flanders, seldom in Limburg (Belgium). And in the Flanders you can also speak a formal language. it's just a matter of using the correct sentences. My native language is also Dutch, but I live in the Flanders (Limburg)

[@rensvandenbulck]

Interessant. Volgens mij zijn er heel veel vormen van 'jij'. Ik kom uit Zeeuws Vlaanderen en daar zeggen we 'hi'. Overal in het Nederlandstalig gebied is weer een andere vorm, oe, gij, en één vorm is 'u'. Totaal gelijkwaardig. Mijn theorie is dat u na 1585 in Amsterdam terecht gekomen is daar en beleefdheidsvorm geworden is. Kan dat kloppen?

[@ypno8225]

Super! 👍🏼😊

[@Frahamen]

I'll say if you want to speak formal, you speak standard language, if you want to speak informal, you speak standard language or tussentaal.

[@mirola73]

Ben 15 jaar weg uit NL, was recentelijk terug. Het lijkt wel of het woord 'u' een niet Nederlands woord is geworden, overal wordt er gejijd en gejoud, verschrikkelijk ! Ook is het gebruik van Engelse woorden waar gewoon Nederlandse woorden voor bestaan gigantisch toegenomen. Een absolute vorm van taalverarming.

[@tomm4073]

Goed gezegd. Ik ben het helemaal met U eens. En dan de gewone beleefdheidsvormen. Als je ergens binnen loopt en je zegt "goedemorgen" of zoiets, dan krijg je van niemand een antwoord.

[@CouldBeMathijs]

Taal evolueert, mensen spreken niet meer zoals ze spraken, anders zouden we nog steeds Proto-indo-europees aan het spreken zijn...

[@narantsetseglhagvasvren6514]

Thank you so much

[@ramamonato5039]

The words "u" and "gij" are for formal situation?

[@nozrulchy350]

u did good like leraar tnx voor cours

[@skateboarding4life]

The first three and a half minutes just for the haters.

[@marce5410]

En een met " ng" alsjeblieft!

[@vasiletimpul8054]

Why you’re using French ça va? When you have is goed?

[@jaro551]

We use it more or at least a lot. I personally as a Flemish person use ça va a lot even tho I can't speak French.

[@keedt]

it's more flexible than in French though, it can be used as an adjective or an adverb: dat is een ca va wijntje : that wine is quite alright

[@alexisericson241]

Also, Flemish is physically quite close to French, this is Europe after all, so it makes sense that they would have French sayings. German does it, English does it, people borrow words amd phrases from other languages all the time. It's just how language evolves! :)

[@will7922]

@@alexisericson241 just like french has many words (étape, mannequin, drogue, boulevard etc.) from Dutch and other influences.

[@thefreephilosopher7398]

A lot of Flanders has been under French control historically, also, It took the Flemish a long time to get their language on the same level as French politically, as even in the first half of the 20th century, French was the language used by the politicians, elites and bureaucrats... This caused many unnecessary deaths during the First World War, as Officers spoke French, so all the commands were given in French to the soldiers. Who didn't understand them. This is also why Flanders and Wallonia still have strained relations to this day.