But I skipped over these obstacles, mastered the verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’, in their elements, got an idea of the way to construct plurals and diminutives, and went to sleep content.
Next morning after breakfast—which by the bye came up all right, without any special effort on my part—, remembering that I needed pens and ink I determined to go out and buy them myself.
| Have you pens? |
| Give me pens, please. |
| Thank you. |
That is all I seemed to require.
HURDLES.
Have you? Well; that is not so simple as it looks. I consulted the Grammar and was appalled to see the amazing variety of choice afforded to any one in Holland who contemplated asking this innocent question.
 | hebt gij |  | hebt U | Hebt gij(lieden) | |
| hebt ge | heeft U | ||||
| heb je | heeft UEdele | ||||
| heb jij | heeft Ue | ||||
| heeft Uès |
I looked carefully at this curious form. Yes, wherever it occurred, there were marks of parenthesis tied round the (lieden). How was I to pronounce those brackets? The vowels and the usual consonants I had learnt already were very trying. But what about those marks? Did they denote a cough, or a sneeze or gentlemanly tap of your foot on the ground? On the whole I thought I should best represent them by two graceful waves of the hand—one for each bracket.
| hebt gij(lieden) | with brackets carefully fenced round the(lieden) |
| hebt jullie | |
| heb jelui |