# Suede jacket



## Dave Mortimer

Hello.

How would you translate this please (Dutch)? I know JAS for jacket, but can't find suede in the dictionary.

Suede jacket


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## Suehil

It's the same word, but with an accent: 'Een suède jas'


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## Dave Mortimer

Thanks for that. What does the Een mean? If it's just 'a', can it be dropped?


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## Lopes

I think jacket is better translated as "jasje". "Een" means "a", and you can't drop it.


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## Tao

Hmm, actually, I think one could drop the 'een'. If *'a' = 'een'* why include it if you need only 'suede jacket' translated? It is redundant. 'suède jas' would do just fine.

I also think 'jasje' is not the proper word for *-je* after a noun signifies smallness. The English version would then be *'little suede jacket'*.

I hope it helps.


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## Suehil

No, actually, Lopes was right, a 'jasje' is a jacket, a 'jas' is a coat.  
You can drop 'een' whenever you can drop 'a'.  If it were 'the jacket' it would be 'het jasje'


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## Tao

Yes, that is correct.


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## Lopes

*-je *doesn't allways refer to something small, sometimes it just changes the meaning of a word (slightly)


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## Dave Mortimer

Thanks to everone for the response. I believe it is a fairly lightweight, fashionable ladies' jacket, so I'll go with 'suede jasje'.
I wondered what the -je ending meant.
Is the j prounced as a j as in English jay, a j as 'je' in French or as in English y for 'you'.

Dave


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## Lopes

As in 'you'


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## Frank06

Hi,

The 'j' in '-*j*e' as such is pronounced indeed as '*y*ou', but I doubt if anybody would say
/jasjə/. In this case, it would be /'jaʃə/ (ʃ being the sound you hear in Eng. *sh*ame).

Groetjes,

Frank

PS the IPA symbol ʃ looks a bit odd on my screen.


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## Dave Mortimer

Thanks Frank,

So that's 'yashay' then, with the second j converting the s into sh?


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## Tao

Dave Mortimer said:


> Thanks Frank,
> 
> So that's 'yashay' then, with the second j converting the s into sh?


You could roughly relate the Dutch* sj* to the English *sh* in all cases.
Examples:
* hasj [hush]
* bosje [bosheh]
* sjaak [shaahk]


If I would have to write down the sound of *jasje* in English I would write something like:
*yah-sheh*, where the *eh* sound is *not* *like* the 'e' in *e*nd, but like when you utter "ehhhhh" (but then short) when you quickly try to come up with something.

I hope my explanation helps you.


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## Suehil

If I were explaining the sound to an English speaker who doesn't know the phonetic symbols (like me) I would say it was pronounced 'Yash-yuh' with the stress on the first syllable to such an extent that the last one almost disappears.


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