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Conversely, a lot of Dutch people use apostrophes for plurals in English, probably more so than the average non-native speaker, because that's considered correc
by arp242 3y ago
Conversely, a lot of Dutch people use apostrophes for plurals in English, probably more so than the average non-native speaker, because that's considered correct in Dutch.
Mixing languages is hard. I've lived abroad for a few years I can no longer tell the time in Dutch. Does "half two" mean "half past two" (14:30) or "half of two" (13:30)? From where I'm sitting now, I'm genuinely not sure; in (British) English it's usually the latter, although that's confusing as well because Americans usually mean the former (or was it the reverse?)
Maybe I'm just stupid – I've never been able to recite the alphabet either (always get confused somewhere after O/P).
- Vinnl 3y agoFor plurals in Dutch it's only correct if the pronunciation of the letter before the s would change, I believe, whereas English just changes the spelling. So in Dutch it's baby's, in English babies, but both say computers. But yeah, I think it's just compensation because people have memorised that English uses more apostrophes than Dutch. I can tell the time in Dutch, but having to switch between British and American English makes that I indeed have no idea which interpretation of half two is correct when. I just make sure to say half past two.