🇳🇱 holandês · B2 · Society & Global Issues

Democracy

15 min de leitura · conjunctief · het is essentieel dat... · nominalisering

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Vocabulário

de democratiedemocracy
de stemmingthe vote
de grondwetthe constitution
de burgerthe citizen
de verkiezingthe election
het parlementparliament
de persvrijheidfreedom of the press
de rechtsstaatthe rule of law
het referendumthe referendum
de oppositiethe opposition
de coalitiethe coalition
de nominaliseringthe nominalization

Democracy and Nominalization in Dutch

Nominalization converts verbs and adjectives into nouns, essential for formal and political discourse.

Verb to noun: beslissen → de beslissing (to decide → the decision), hervormen → de hervorming (to reform → the reform), verbeteren → de verbetering (to improve → the improvement). Common suffixes: -ing, -heid, -tie.

Adjective to noun: vrij → de vrijheid (free → freedom), gelijk → de gelijkheid (equal → equality), veilig → de veiligheid (safe → safety).

Nominalizations make text more formal: Instead of De regering beslist over het beleid (The government decides on policy), write De beslissing over het beleid ligt bij de regering (The decision on policy lies with the government).

The Dutch subjunctive is rare but appears in fixed expressions: Het zij zo (So be it), Leve de koning! (Long live the king!). In formal writing: Het is essentieel dat de democratie beschermd worde (It is essential that democracy be protected) — though this form is increasingly replaced by the indicative.

For political discourse: Het is van groot belang dat... (It is of great importance that...), De vraag rijst of... (The question arises whether...).

Expressões

Het is van groot belang dat...It is of great importance that...
De vraag rijst of...The question arises whether...
De beslissing ligt bij het parlementThe decision lies with parliament
Leve de democratie!Long live democracy!
De hervorming van het kiesstelselThe reform of the electoral system
Het zij zoSo be it

Erros frequentes

~~De beslissen over het beleid~~
De beslissing over het beleid
Use the nominalized form beslissing (noun), not the infinitive beslissen.
~~De vrijheid van de pers~~
De persvrijheid
Dutch often uses compound nouns instead of prepositional phrases. Persvrijheid is the standard form.
~~Het is van grote belang~~
Het is van groot belang
Belang is a het-word, so the adjective stays uninflected: groot (not grote).
~~De vraag rijst dat...~~
De vraag rijst of...
After rijst (arises), use of (whether), not dat (that), for questions.
~~Leve het koning!~~
Leve de koning!
Koning is a de-word (common gender), not a het-word.

Quiz rápido

Pergunta 1 de 5

Como se diz «democracy» em holandês?

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