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"Deze dame heeft alleen maar dure kleren."

Translation:This lady only has expensive clothes.

September 26, 2014



"this lady has nothing but expensive clothes" should be accepted I feel, have reported


I agree completely.


Is "alleen maar" the same as "heel veel", an emphasis? Could you say "alleen dure kleren" and/or "maar dure kleren"?


Nope. heel veel means a lot, alleen maar means only.

Alleen dure kleren has the same meaning, but with less emphasis, in this context you cannot use maar dure kleren.


I didn't mean it's the same meaning, I mean it's the same behavior - "heel veel" is more than just "veel"; "alleen maar" is more than just "alleen" (while "maar" here is completely wrong). Thanks!


Ah ok, I get your question now. They are different. Heel veel is an amplifier, this is more than veel. Alleen maar is like erg in heel erg veel it's an extra filler word that is optional and doesn't really change the meaning, but it makes the sentence 'nicer' and better flowing. Another example where there is a bigger difference between using this word is: Zeg het maar vs Zeg het. The former means How can I help you or Just tell me, the latter means Say it.


Why you can say"deze dame heeft alleen dure kleren" but you cannot say "deze dame heeft maar dure kleren"?
Then in what kind of context you can use "maar" as "only"?


The meaning of "maar" is more like "but", so you can't use it on it's own to mean "only". A meaning like "we hebben maar (something)" would mean something like "We only have (something) and nothing else at all".

"Ik heb maar één sok!" = "I have only one sock!", or in a more old-fashioned way "I have but one sock!"

So "deze dame heeft maar dure kleren" would imply that it is a problem that the lady only has expensive clothers, or that the only thing she has at all is expensive clothes.


"woman" is not accepted. Why?


A woman = Een vrouw. A lady = Een dame.


What the different to my rejected answer: This woman has only expensive clothes?


Dame = Lady

Vrouw = Woman


This is a language lesson, not a math lesson :)


"This lady has only expensive clothes" is perfectly correct and would be commonly heard (if it ever happened in reality).


Would I say "Deze dame alleen heeft dure kleren" to mean "Only this lady has expensive clothes"?

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