Question 1

I learned that bellen means to call. Why use noemen here?

Accepted Answer

In Dutch, bellen is only used for calling someone on a telephone. When you mean to give a name to something or describe it as a certain thing, you must use noemen.

Question 2

How is noemen different from heten?

Accepted Answer

Heten means to be called or to have a name, which you use when introducing yourself (like Ik heet...). Noemen is the active action of labeling or naming something. Because we are actively labeling the situation here, we use noemen.

Question 3

Why does the sentence use dit instead of deze?

Accepted Answer

The word probleem is a het word (het probleem), so it uses dit for this. Additionally, when you point to a general situation or abstract idea, Dutch always uses dit or dat as the default.

Question 4

Can I say we instead of wij?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we is perfectly fine and is actually more common in casual speech. Using wij puts a little extra emphasis on the group of people speaking, as if saying WE call this a problem, even if other people might not.

Wij noemen dit een probleem.

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