How can “hij zat” mean “he was”? Doesn’t “hij was” mean “he was”? According to the dictionaries “zat” is a form of the verb “zitten” and means “(he) sat”. As far as I can tell zitten has nothing to do with zijn. Perhaps the Dutch want to point out something: sitting down is the most common school activity.
Hello, you are ‘zat’ is the past tense of zitten.
But however, there is an expression, ‘Op school zitten’, which means, the person is attending school.
For example, you can ask a three year old:
‘Zit je al op school?’, which means, are you already going into school?
Or a 17 year old, ‘Zit je nog op school?’, which means, are you still going into school, or are you already working?
The same ‘zitten’ can be used in other situations as wel:
Ik zit op gymnastiek, which means I go to a gymnastic class once a week. Nothing much to do with ‘sitting’ thus, but more with attending, adhere to.
Interesting. I love it how different nations see things differently. Thinking about it “going” doesn’t make much sense when it’s a regular activity. Although here we “go” (mergem) to school as well.
You’ve been very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to answer me.
I am doing a bit better now. I read a few things about Dutch grammar in the weekend and it was quite useful. However after untangling a phrase sometimes I’m still left with some extra linking words. Oops!
Have a nice evening.
Thank you for your reply. It is good to have those questions. If I make some lessons, I might try to integrate some of the questions into some new lessons. Normally, I would myself not even think about ‘zitten’ to be strangely used. It is only after a question that I found it funny as well.
All the best to you!
Silvia