Spreken: kort antwoord

The questions are simple: your name, where you live, your age, your work, your family, your day. The hard part is not the answer. The hard part is the change from the question to the answer. The question says u. Your answer says ik. And the verb changes too: bent u becomes ik ben, heeft u becomes ik heb. Many learners copy the verb from the question and say ik heeft.

Spreken is one of the three parts of the Basisexamen. You do it at the embassy or consulate, on a computer, and your voice is recorded. One kind of task is the short answer: you hear a question about your own life and you answer it. Two assessors listen to the recording later. They check if they can understand you. Our practice tasks check the same thing, and one more: does your answer fit the question?

Hoe heet u? → Ik heet …

Change u to ik. Here the verb stays the same: heet.

Waar woont u? → Ik woon in …

Waar wants a place. The verb loses its t: woont becomes woon.

Hoe oud bent u? → Ik ben … jaar.

Bent is only for u and je. With ik it is always ben.

Heeft u kinderen? → Ja, ik heb … / Nee, ik heb geen kinderen.

No question word, so start with ja or nee. Heeft becomes heb.

Hoe laat staat u 's ochtends op? → Ik sta om … uur op.

Hoe laat wants a clock time. Op goes to the end, as in the question.

• Ik woon in Ankara.

  ✗Ankara.

  Answer to Waar woont u? One place, in a full short sentence. Only the town name can be understood too, but the task asks for a short sentence.

• Ik sta om zeven uur op.

  ✗Ik sta op in de ochtend.

  Hoe laat asks for a time on the clock. In de ochtend is already in the question, so saying it again answers nothing.

• Nee, ik heb geen kinderen.

  ✗Nee, ik heeft geen kinderen.

  A yes/no question: nee first, then a short sentence. The verb is heb, not the heeft you just heard.

• +Exception 1

  Wat is uw adres? and Wat is uw telefoonnummer? want uw to become mijn: Mijn adres is … Say a phone number slowly, one number at a time.

• +Exception 2

  Waar komt u vandaan? is a different question from Waar woont u? It asks for your country: Ik kom uit Marokko.

• ✗Two questions start with waar. Waar woont u? asks where you live now. Waar komt u vandaan? asks where you are from. Answering the other one does not fit the question.
• ✗Copying the verb from the question: ik heeft, ik bent, ik woont. The question gave you the u-form. You need the ik-form.
• ✗Saying a long learned text about yourself. One question wants one answer. More sentences give more chances to be unclear, and they do not fit the question better.