Dutch language help

[Kathryn Barbara Campbell-Kibler]

Hallo all,

I'm sorry to be barging in, in English no less, but I'm a linguist
searching deparately for Dutch speakers, in sort order. If anybody
happens to be around and reading news, I would be extremely grateful for
your opinion on some sentences, just whether they sound ok, and like
something you might hear, or whether they are really bizarre "word salad",
or somewhere in the middle.

Hij hebt aan een probleem met een appel gedacht.
Waar hebt hij aan een problem mee gedacht?
Wat hebt hij aan een problem met gedacht?

I'll check back here, or feel free to email me as well.
Thanks for reading this.

Kcat

[Marger]

koi...@intercosmos.com wrote:
>
> On 24 Feb 2001 20:37:25 -0800, kc...@Stanford.EDU (Kathryn Barbara
> Campbell-Kibler) wrote:
>
> [nl.taal added]

>
> >I'm sorry to be barging in, in English no less, but I'm a linguist
> >searching deparately for Dutch speakers, in sort order. If anybody
> >happens to be around and reading news, I would be extremely grateful for
> >your opinion on some sentences, just whether they sound ok, and like
> >something you might hear, or whether they are really bizarre "word salad",
> >or somewhere in the middle.
>

> >Waar hebt hij aan een problem mee gedacht?
>

> Better: "Waaraan heeft hij gedacht bij het probleem?"

I would say the correct sentence in this case would be:

"Aan een probleem met wat heeft hij gedacht?"

This is quite a complex structure in the Dutch language. Also, not a lot
of people give a lot of thought to problems with apples :)

--
Marger

[Peter Elderson]

Marger wrote:
>
> koi...@intercosmos.com wrote:
> >
> > On 24 Feb 2001 20:37:25 -0800, kc...@Stanford.EDU (Kathryn Barbara
> > Campbell-Kibler) wrote:
> >
> > [nl.taal added]
> >
> > >I'm sorry to be barging in, in English no less, but I'm a linguist
> > >searching deparately for Dutch speakers, in sort order. If anybody
> > >happens to be around and reading news, I would be extremely grateful for
> > >your opinion on some sentences, just whether they sound ok, and like
> > >something you might hear, or whether they are really bizarre "word salad",
> > >or somewhere in the middle.
> >
> > >Waar hebt hij aan een problem mee gedacht?
> >
> > Better: "Waaraan heeft hij gedacht bij het probleem?"
>
> I would say the correct sentence in this case would be:
>
> "Aan een probleem met wat heeft hij gedacht?"

It's technically correct but a native speaker would say: "Waarmee
dacht hij dat er een probleem was?". I'm sure you'll feel inclined to
say "with the brain, dummy!", but it is regular dutch idiom!

pe
(Seeking cover)

[Marger]

Oh, I agree: your solution does sound more like something one would
hear. On the other hand, mine is a bit closer to the original sentence.
I'm not sure what Kathryn is going to use the replies for, but now she
has two alternatives that each have their own advantage.

--
Marger

[Kathryn Barbara Campbell-Kibler]

In article <3A9A61A1...@nospam-cistron.nl>,
Marger <mar...@nospam-cistron.nl> wrote:

>Peter Elderson wrote:
>>
>> It's technically correct but a native speaker would say: "Waarmee
>> dacht hij dat er een probleem was?". I'm sure you'll feel inclined to
>> say "with the brain, dummy!", but it is regular dutch idiom!
>>
>

>Oh, I agree: your solution does sound more like something one would
>hear. On the other hand, mine is a bit closer to the original sentence.
>I'm not sure what Kathryn is going to use the replies for, but now she
>has two alternatives that each have their own advantage.

Thanks to everyone who responded! (And sorry about mis-verbing them all,
it was late at night.) That was exactly the kind of thing I was looking
for. I wanted to know whether it was ok to have a question with "waar"
with the preposition it was linked to ("mee" in this case) was inside a
bigger prepositional phrase. The answer seems solidly no.

Thanks again, all!

Kcat