# I loved them



## cbm3

I'm trying to say "I loved them (the books you gave me)", but saying "Ik hou van hem" doesn't sound right... I want it to sound more effusive.


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## Pedro Paraíso

Ik mocht hem graag.


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## Peterdg

Pedro Paraíso said:


> Ik mocht hem graag.


De boeken????



cbm3 said:


> "I loved them (the books you gave me)":


I don't think a native Dutch speaker would use "houden van" in this case. I would rather say something like: "Ik vond ze geweldig".


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## Red Arrow

It sounds wrong because the most important part of the sentence is *the books*. In English, you start your sentence with a subject.

Die boeken vond ik geweldig.
Die vond ik geweldig.
Die (boeken) waren zalig/geweldig/fantastisch/keigoed.
Die (boeken) waren echt de moeite.

If you start your sentence with "ik", you are stressing that you yourself like these books (unlike other people).


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## ThomasK

Aaarrrhhh, this is the usual problem: there is no simple way to translate "like" and "love" really in Dutch. "Houden van" can work in quite some cases, but here it would not: "ik hield van die boeken" is grammatical but it sounds formal especially. So Red Arrow is right in suggesting that form, but his adjectives or "non-verbal rests" would have been too strong if the sentence had read: "I liked those books". However, you are referring to "I loved those books". So his suggestions are all right. We indeed need to revert to paraphrases in this informal sense. 

If you are supposed to love your enemy, then we still say "Bemin je vijand" but that sounds oddly formal to me. However, "Hou van je vijand" seems like too sentimental or something. 

_I always wonder what impact the lack of a simple like/love verb has on our perception of love, but that is for the EHL section... _


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## elroy

Peterdg said:


> "Ik vond ze geweldig"





Red Arrow said:


> If you start your sentence with "ik", you are stressing that you yourself like these books (unlike other people).


I don’t think that’s the case with “Ik vond,” is it?  “Ik vond” is what I thought of, too.


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## ThomasK

elroy said:


> I don’t think that’s the case with “Ik vond,” is it?  “Ik vond” is what I thought of, too.



I agree, I think, but I am not perfectly sure I understand the second sentence perfectly. Fronting the object generates a very strong focus because it is an uncommon [marked] position for a direct object, but the middle position (_Ik zal morgen komen - Hij heeft die boeken geweldig gevonden_) is the normal position of the key word in "normal" circumstances  and in my view therefore the I-sentence is quite OK as a translation.


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## elroy

ThomasK said:


> I am not perfectly sure I understand the second sentence perfectly.


I just meant that like @Peterdg, I also thought of “Ik vond ze [adjective]” as a suitable translation.


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