November 5, 2017

WINTERTIID - "Fall Back Time"

Here is the United States, we have just set the clocks back... one week after the Netherlands. The Frisian word for this is wintertiid, meaning Winter Time. The word winter is like ours, except said with an initial v- instead of a w-, and the second part, tiid, is said with the long -ee- in "meet." [VIHN-tuh-tEEt]. Notice that it is a cognate with our word "tide."

Last week, Omrop Fryslân ran a nice little article with people expressing their opinions about the time change (link here). It's full of useful vocabulary and expressions. My cartoon characters, Sjoerd, Sytske, and Anke, are here to help with today's lesson, which is based on that article:


We kinne dochs in oere langer sliepe!
We can sleep another hour longer!
[vUH KIHN-nuh DAWkhs UHN OOr-ruh LAWN-guhr SLEE-puh!]

We is the unemphasized form of wy, meaning "we". It is said with a schwa. 

Note the word order: in English we say "can sleep," but in Frisian the verb going with "can" appears at the end of the sentence.


Dat enerzjy-argumint is al lang efterhelle. Gau ophâlde mei dy ûnsin!
That energy argument is already long out-of-date. Enough with the insanity already!
[DAWT ehn-uhr-ZHEE AHR-goo-MIHNt IHs LAWng EHF-tuhr-HEL-luh. GOW awp-HAHL-duh MIGH duh OON-sihn!]

Gau actually means "quickly" or "immediately." The literal translation of "Gau ophâlde mei dy ûnsin!" would be more along the lines of "Immediately halt with the insanity/nonsense!"


Wat in drokte om neat. Hâldt it no ris sa't it is. Ik wurd der deawurch fan...
What a fuss over nothing. Keep it now as it is. I'm tired to death of (hearing about it).
[VAHt uhn DRAWK-tuh AWM NEET. HAHLT uht NOH RIHS SAHt uht IHs. IHk VUHt dEHr DAY-uh-vUHRkh FAWN...]

Drokte literally means "business." It is connected to drok, the word for a "crowd" or "pressure."


Note that the spelled -r- in the Frisian wurd is not said out loud. "Ik wurd" can be more precisely translated as "I should be" or "I will be."

October 26, 2017

"Fun With Frisian" Facebook Page

My feelings about Facebook are very mixed. On the one hand, it seems specifically "designed" to have a chaotic layout and eat up your time. On the other hand, I love the active use of Frisian by so many individuals and groups there. It has done a lot for the language, if we're being honest.

Anyways, this blog has a Facebook page, one that sometimes features shorter and more frequent lessons than you may see here on the blog. Please feel free to follow it if you would like:

https://www.facebook.com/funwithfrisian/


September 25, 2017

REEK - "smoke"

Frisian has quite a few expressions that might not make sense if you take them word-for-word. They must be learned as a whole. Today, let's look at two such expressions based off the word reek, pronounced [rEYk] like the English word "rake." Reek means "smoke" in Frisian.

First, we can speak of someone or something being "out of the smoke" or "from the smoke" if we want to say that it is far away:

 ...út de reek / út 'e reek...
...out of the way, far away 
[OOt duh rEYk]

Hy wennet in hiel ein út 'e reek.
He lives a long way away.

No wie it gefal dat de pleats wat út 'e reek lei.
Now it was the case that the farm was far way.

However, we can reverse our meaning by saying that someone or something is "under the smoke." That means it is close by.

...under de reek fan Ljouwert wenje...
...live close to Ljouwert (Leeuwarden)...
[OON-der DUH rEYk FAWN LYOW-wuht VEHn-nyuh]

Marsum is in lyts doarp ûnder de reek fan Ljouwert.
Marsum is a little village near Ljouwert.

Se is berne yn it doarpke ûnder de reek fan Dokkum.
She was born in a village near Dokkum. 

May 13, 2017

SLOPE and SLOPPE (False Cognates)

Let's look at a two words that are false cognates to the English eye: slope and sloppe. 

With only one -p- the word can mean "destroyed" or "demolished." It is connected to the noun sloop which is both Frisian and Dutch for "demolition". From a headline from Omprop Fryslân:

Ald skoalle net slope.
Old school not destroyed.
[AWT skWAWL-luh NET SLOH-puh.]

Here, slope is pronounced with the long "oh" in our word "slope" (like a sloping hill), followed by a schwa. SLOH-puh.

On the other hand, we have the similar-looking word sloppe. Its vowel is pronounced much more like the one in "slop" or "sloppy," its false English friend. Sloppe is also two syllables and ends with a schwa sound.

It wie sloppe kofje. It wie sloppe tee. 
It was weak coffee. It was weak tea.
[UHT VEE SLAW-puh KAWf-fyeh. UHT VEE SLAW-puh TAY.]

Sa slop as in doek.
As weak as a cloth.
[SAH SLAWP AWS UHn DOOK.]

Sloppe can also indicate free ("slack") time. In sloppe tiid  is a period of free time.

Here is a link to some more examples of sloppe and slop on Taalweb Frysk.

March 21, 2017

STRIPFERHAAL - "comic"

Stripferhaal and tekenteltsje are two ways to say "comic" in Frisian.

Stripferhaal begins with the long "ee" in "streak," a schwa in the second syllable, and an "ah" vowel like in "father" in the last syllable. [STREEP-fuhr-hahl] Strip [STREEP] by itself is another, short word for comic. Ferhaal means "story."

Tekenteltsje also breaks down into two word roots. Teken means "sign" and the verb tekenje is "to draw." Teltsje also means a "story or tale." Put some emphasis on the first syllable and say it starting with the vowel in the word "say." The second syllable takes a schwa. The teltsje part begins with the "eh" vowel in "tell" conveniently, and the next syllable has another schwa. [TAY-kuhn-TEHL-tsyuh]

https://funwithfrisian.wordpress.com/

https://funwithfrisian.wordpress.com/

Anyways, there is a reason for this particular lesson. If you enjoy Frisian and you enjoy comics, please check out my new sister-site, Fun With Frisian Comics. They are on Wordpress because it is slightly easier to work with images there and it makes sense to keep the strips separate anyways. You can share the comics, but please give credit back to the site.

March 12, 2017

Telling Frisian Apart From Dutch For Us Foreigners

Today I stumbled across a nice little video about telling written Frisian, Dutch, and Afrikaans apart. This is a very worthwhile subject if you are traveling in the Netherlands as a foreigner.


Here, I'd like to expand a bit more on a few tricks that I have picked up for distinguishing spoken Frisian from Dutch as a foreigner, other than "Hey... I actually understand some of what they're saying... that must be Frisian!"

As the video notes, the "jij" in Dutch can be very helpful. It sounds like the word "eye" with a y- in front [YIGH] and is one way of saying "you"... the plural "you"--"jullie" [YOO-lee] also is distinctively Dutch.

If you hear "kijk" [KIGHk] (with the same vowel in English "kite"), this is another sign that you are probably hearing Dutch and not Frisian. It means "look," so it is a reasonably frequent word in Dutch, but is not something you'd encounter often in Frisian.

Conversely, if you hear a lot of sounds close to the English "chin," that is more likely Frisian. E.g., sjen, "look," and tsjin, "against."

The words "het" and "met" are give-a-ways that you are hearing Dutch. That harsh, throat-clearing consonant in "het" is far more common in Dutch than Frisian, though the consonant does show up in Frisian sometimes. Some speakers seem to use it more than others. Dutch, unlike Frisian, also uses that harsh consonant frequently to begin past participles, spelled with a beginning "ge-" but sounding like a German ch followed by the "eh" vowel in "head."

Why is this helpful? Well, for one, Frisian-language broadcasting isn't always in Frisian. It's assumed that viewers speak Dutch too, so people responding to news interviews may well be replying in Dutch and not Frisian. Good to know when you are a foreigner.

February 22, 2017

BINDE - "troop" (Military Vocabulary Words)

I was recently reading part of a book that had a lot of military action vocabulary words. They seemed like a good subject for a new lesson. Certainly, these words can be very helpful if you are reading about history.

De binde
The troop, company, band, or gang.
[DUH BIHN-duh]

Hy foarme in eigen binde. 
He formed his own band of troops.
[HIGH FWAWR-muh uhn IGH-guhn BIHN-duh.]

De manskippen
The troops
[DUH mawn-SKIHP-pun]

It leger is ree om mear manskippen te stjoeren.
The army is ready to send more troops.
[UHT LEY-khur ihs REY AWM MEER mawn-SKIHP-puhn tuh STYOO-ruhn.]

The -g- in leger, meaning "army" or "military," sounds much like the harsh consonant in the German word "Bach" or the Hebrew word "l'chaim."

Kwytrekke
Lost
[kvee-TREH-kuh]

Yn de 3e iuw binne de Romeinen hieltyd mear gebiet kwytrekke.
In the third century, the Romans lost more and more territory.
[EEN duh TREH-duh EE-yoo BIHN-nuh duh roh-MIGH-nuhn HEEL-teed MEER guh-BEET kvee-TREH-kuh.]

Mûklaach/mûklagen
Ambush/ambushes
[mook-LAHKH]

This word also takes the harsh consonant in leger above. The stress is on the second syllable and the first syllable is pronounced with the long -oo- in the English "moon."

Hy wurdt yn in mûklaach lokke en ferslein.
He was ambushed and defeated.
[HIGH vuht EEn uhn mook-LAHKH LOHK-kuh ehn fuh-SHLIGHN.]

With all these military words, it would be handy to know how to say "war" or "battle" in Frisian:

Oarloch
War
[OR-lawkh]

Kriich
War
[KREEkh]

Both take that harsh, throat-clearing consonant again. The word krigers, meaning "warriors," has a visible connection to kriich.

We'll end here with slach, the word for battle (as a verb, it means "to strike," "to hit, or "to beat"). Say it with, yet again, that harsh -kh- sound we don't have in English. [SLAHkh]


January 13, 2017

FERHÚZJE - "to move"

Happy New Year! This year started off with a bang. I am in the middle of the topic of this lesson: moving!

The verb ferhúzje means "to move" as when you are changing homes or offices. You can see how it is connected to the word hûs meaning "house." Say it with the stress on the second syllable. The first syllable takes a schwa and may de-emphasize the -r- you see in writing. The second syllable takes an "oo" vowel a bit shorter than the one in "moon." The verb ends with another schwa. [fuh-HOO-zyuh]

Ferhúsdei is "moving day." From previous lessons, remember that the Frisian word for "day" is pronounced like the word "dye" [DIGH].

Another word meaning "to move" is bewege, but that is more about physical motion or changing a state.

Of course, when you move you are surrounded by boxes. Two words to be familiar with are de doaze [duh DOH-zuh] and it kistje [uht KISH-juh]. The second word seems to refer to small boxes, including ones for jewelry, crates, and also to coffins. The first one is more what we usually have in mind when we speak of boxes. You can see a video and an article about a bunch of boxes that were spilled in Ljouwert at http://www.omropfryslan.nl/nijs/frachtwein-ferliest-doazen-op-ljouwerter-kruspunt.

Ik soe ferhúzje nei Dokkum.
I'd like to move to Dokkum.
[IHk SOO fuh-HOO-zjuh NIGH DAWK-kuhm.]

Mar ik kin noch net ferhúzje.
But I can't move now. / But I still can't move.
[MAWR IHk KIHN NET fuh-HOO-zjuh.]