# Imperative in Dutch



## Encolpius

Hello, so far I couldn't find a simple explanation how to use imperative in Dutch properly. It would be excellent if one knew German and translated it into German because there are all 4 types of imperative. But I am trying to write it if I understood it properly. 
1/ I am talking to 1 child - that's simple
2/ I am talking to 2 children:
*Gaat zitten!* (???)
*Weest niet bang!* (????)
3/ I am talking to 1 older lady politely:
*Gaat u zitten!*
*Weest u niet bang!* (???) - I am not sure
4/ I am talking to 2 older ladies politely: 
    I think the same as 3/
Thanks a lot.


----------



## theo1006

Hi Encolpius,

What you have written is ok, at least it is what I was taught at school almost 60 years ago.
However number 2) strikes me as extremely oldfashioned, nobody would talk like that to a group of children.  A schoolteacher might say:
"Jongens en meisjes, allemaal zitten!" "Niet bang zijn, hoor!" or something like that.
Number 3) and 4) is correct usance if you want to be polite, especially: "Gaat u zitten!"  For the second example I would rather say: "U hoeft niet bang te zijn, hoor!"

Regards,
Theo


----------



## Frank06

Encolpius said:


> 2/ I am talking to 2 children:
> *Gaat zitten!*
> *Weest niet bang!*


The form with -t isn't really used anymore, nor for the (informal) singular, neither for the plural. Here you can find more information.

Groetjes,

Frank


----------



## Grytolle

The form with -t is very much in used in Belgium, but since it's not used anymore in Nothern Standard Dutch, some people (just brainwashed Dutch students *semi-joke*?) try to get rid of it. In this (un)dialectal usage, though, -t can be used for one person too.


----------



## Frank06

Hi,


Grytolle said:


> The form with -t is very much in used in Belgium


As far as I know, it's mainly used in the Brabantian (Antwerpian(?) dialects; because of the implied subject _gij_, which normally takes a -t?? Just guessing here).



> but since it's not used anymore in Nothern Standard Dutch, some people (just brainwashed Dutch students *semi-joke*?) try to get rid of it. In this (un)dialectal usage, though, -t can be used for one person too.


Neither is it used in _standard Dutch_ as spoken in Flanders. But then I wonder why we should give dialect forms to second language learners. 

Groetjes,

Frank


----------



## Grytolle

Frank06 said:


> As far as I know, it's mainly used in the Brabantian (Antwerpian(?) dialects; because of the implied subject _gij_, which normally takes a -t?? Just guessing here).


I wouldn't know for sure if it's true, but I have made the same assumption myself. I have yet to find out about a single area in Belgium, though, where jij is in really frequent (spoken) use. Brussel perhaps, with all the bilinguism (just guessing a word here. I mean: tweetaligheid).



Frank06 said:


> Neither is it used in _standard Dutch_ as spoken in Flanders. But then I wonder why we should give dialect forms to second language learners.


You can find plenty of examples of it in Standard Dutch-texts (that is, texts intended to be standard dutch), but the useage is (for some reason) called faulty. 

I'd say there's quite a difference between dialects and regiolects, the second of which being something a language learner definitely will want to be able to handle at least passively if he plans to spend a lot of time in Belgium.

Then again, I might be overestimating language learners in general when I think they are able to handle the grammatica of several registers.  Personally I love grammar, so I've never seen it as a problem to learn everything from archaic inflection to standard language to dialect. When I tell others about registers other than the standard, though, I try to mention it, to avoid confusion. 8)


----------



## gelooff

Het is heel simpel hoor, al zou je een andere indruk krijgen uit bovenstaande discussie. Tegen 2 of meer kinderen zeg je:
Ga zitten!
Wees niet bang!

De t erachter is alleen voor een (weinig gebruikte) beleefdheidsvorm. Zelfs als je iemand met u aanspreekt, kan je toch heel beleefd zeggen: 'Ga zitten!' Dat klinkt vriendelijker (als uitnodiging) dan 'Gaat zitten!' (wat veel meer als bevel klinkt). Ik gebruik zelf de vorm 'gaat zitten!' helemaal nooit. Als je Nederlands leert, zou ik die vorm gewoon vergeten.


----------



## ablativ

gelooff said:


> ... dan 'Gaat zitten!' (wat veel meer als bevel klinkt).


 
Dit soort "bevel" hoor je wel eens als ouders tegen hun lastige kind(eren) zeggen "Gaat zitten !", zeer accentueerd uitgespoken met een nogal lange pauze tussen "gaat" en "zitten" (in de zin van "dit is m'n laatste waarschuwing !")


----------



## ThomasK

Jaja, ooit heette het ook : 'Gaat en onderwijst alle volken', enz., maar de vorm is passé. Ik volg Frank en Gelooff helemaal. 

learning different registers is great, but whether this -t is part of a register. If it is, then I would say: there are more... interesting registers to be learnt !!! ;-)


----------



## Grytolle

Than what register?


----------



## ThomasK

Well, first of all: foreign students ought to focus on standard language first, that will help them best. And this -t- issue is not part of a definite register; it is old and dialectal mainly. 

How come you insist on this if I may ask ? Have you lived in Flanders for a long time ?


----------



## Grytolle

The reason I insist is that it's said why too much in non-dialect to be deemed useless  I've lived here all summer

What language variants to learn is dicussed in another thread, so I won't reply to that here


----------



## ThomasK

INteresting point of view: if it is used, it cannot be useless. But we should not be focusing on that again. I consider it a relic of the past, and even more important is that it is not used consistently. In my dialect (West/East-Flanders) it is not productive. 
But mind you: you will know that you hear a -t quite often because some stems of infinitives end in -t : _haast/en, rijd/en, houd/en_, etc. But in some of those the stem-t is often dropped [hou me vast, rij toch verder !] ! So i think there is a natural trend of dropping this 'strong' plosive at the end. (Itmight be used as some kind of intrusive t, between vowels, so I think)


----------



## Lopes

gelooff said:


> De t erachter is alleen voor een (weinig gebruikte) beleefdheidsvorm. Zelfs als je iemand met u aanspreekt, kan je toch heel beleefd zeggen: 'Ga zitten!' Dat klinkt vriendelijker (als uitnodiging) dan 'Gaat zitten!' (wat veel meer als bevel klinkt). Ik gebruik zelf de vorm 'gaat zitten!' helemaal nooit. Als je Nederlands leert, zou ik die vorm gewoon vergeten.


 
De beleefdheidsvorm is 'gaat u zitten' ('loopt u even mee', 'houdt u alstublieft even uw mond' ), als ik het niet mis heb, en is, wederom als ik het niet mis heb, niet weinig gebruikt. Persoonlijk zou ik tegen mensen die ik met u aanspreek ook niet zeggen 'ga zitten' of 'wacht even' maar 'wacht u even'.


----------



## ThomasK

Lijkt mij inderdaad juist: de -_t _is niet per se beleefd, _-t u_ wel.


----------

