"Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

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Brus
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"Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Brus » 2012-05-02, 2:08

I ran into the following sentence in an old textbook. I don't get it:

Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie, maar die kopkool is baie mooi.

"The cauliflower doesn't like the ground ..." seems to be the literal translation. What does this mean?

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Shiba
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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Shiba » 2012-05-02, 18:18

That's correct. The cauliflower is personified (this happens a lot in Afrikaans). That it "doesn't like the ground" means that it's not growing well because the conditions of the earth it's been planted in, aren't right for it to thrive.

The cabbage, on the other hand, is growing well.
Native: Afrikaans (af) English (en) || Intermediate: German (de) || Beginner: Some odd combination of Riksmål and Bokmål and whatever (no) || Learning on-and-off: Russian (ru) || Curious: Breton (br) Welsh (cy) Finnish (fi)
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Die HERE is my herder; niks sal my ontbreek nie. ~ Psalm 23:1

Brus
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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Brus » 2012-05-11, 21:57

A couple more sentences from the same book:

"As Tafelberg, die gryse ou vader van die Moederstad, kon praat, wat sou hy nie alles vertel nie!"

I'm not sure what "alles" is doing in this sentence. Is Table Mountain telling *about* everything? Or *to* everything? It seems there ought to be a preposition here.

"In die nag het hulle hulle stemme laat hoor."

Does "laat" go with "in die nag"? "Late in the night they heard their voices?" Seems like an odd placement, if so.

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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Weerwolf » 2012-05-12, 15:19

Brus wrote:"As Tafelberg, die gryse ou vader van die Moederstad, kon praat, wat sou hy nie alles vertel nie!"

I'm not sure what "alles" is doing in this sentence. Is Table Mountain telling *about* everything? Or *to* everything? It seems there ought to be a preposition here.

My thought: "telling about everything".
Brus wrote:"In die nag het hulle hulle stemme laat hoor."

Does "laat" go with "in die nag"? "Late in the night they heard their voices?" Seems like an odd placement, if so.

No, it doesn't, that's why you felt it might sound wierd in that way. "laat" here is a verb meaning "to let". "Laat" goes here with "hoor".
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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Shiba » 2012-05-12, 16:17

Exactly. :) They let their voices be heard.

Saying "Wat sou hulle nie alles vertel nie!" is a lot like saying, "What stories they would tell!" It's basically the same phrase.

Also, in reply to the "In die nag het hulle hulle stemme laat hoor" sentence, remember that Afrikaans likes using verbs without any words inbetween them. It also likes using "helping verbs" (not sure what the English term is, but think of the "go" in the sentence "go and fetch a book" - Afrikaans just wouldn't include the "and").

I'd almost say that Afrikaans is light on the prepositions, but I don't know if that's really true, because I know that it uses prepositions in places English wouldn't. The real thing to keep in mind, I think, is that, although there are many ways in which English and Afrikaans are similar, Afrikaans's grammar is pretty different.

The book you're doing contains very nice idiomatic language, the kind you'll find in good books or in the vocabularies of really fluent speakers. So, although it may be tricky to understand and look weird sometimes, keep going, because that's the way you're going to learn to speak real Afrikaans (even better than many native Afrikaans speakers!), and not textbook-Afrikaans. :)
Native: Afrikaans (af) English (en) || Intermediate: German (de) || Beginner: Some odd combination of Riksmål and Bokmål and whatever (no) || Learning on-and-off: Russian (ru) || Curious: Breton (br) Welsh (cy) Finnish (fi)
Korrigere feilene mine, vær så snill!

Die HERE is my herder; niks sal my ontbreek nie. ~ Psalm 23:1

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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Brus » 2012-05-13, 0:43

Dankie, Weerwolf en Shiba!


Shiba wrote:The book you're doing contains very nice idiomatic language, the kind you'll find in good books or in the vocabularies of really fluent speakers. So, although it may be tricky to understand and look weird sometimes, keep going, because that's the way you're going to learn to speak real Afrikaans (even better than many native Afrikaans speakers!), and not textbook-Afrikaans. :)


Glad to hear it. It's an *old* book I've got checked out from a university library - "Afrikaans for English-Speaking Students" by Potgieter and Geldenhuys, 5th edition (1942).

I'll keep plugging.

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Re: "Die blomkool hou nie van die grond nie ..."

Postby Shiba » 2012-05-13, 19:27

Oh, awesome. I was going to ask you what book it was. ;)
Native: Afrikaans (af) English (en) || Intermediate: German (de) || Beginner: Some odd combination of Riksmål and Bokmål and whatever (no) || Learning on-and-off: Russian (ru) || Curious: Breton (br) Welsh (cy) Finnish (fi)
Korrigere feilene mine, vær så snill!

Die HERE is my herder; niks sal my ontbreek nie. ~ Psalm 23:1


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