Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

What do you call this dish?

Breakdown of Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

• dit: this
• jullie: you (plural)
• hoe: how
• het gerecht: the dish
• noemen: to call

Questions & Answers about Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

Why is it hoe and not wat here? In English I’d say “What do you call this dish?”, not “How do you call this dish?”

In Dutch, hoe is used in this pattern:

• Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?
  Literally: How do you call this dish?
  Natural English: What do you call this dish?

Using wat here would be ungrammatical:
✗ Wat noemen jullie dit gerecht?

So:

• Use hoe with noemen to ask “what something is called”.
• Use wat to ask what something is in a more direct sense:
  
  • Wat is dit gerecht? – What is this dish? (What kind of dish is it?)

What is the difference between noemen and heten in this sentence type?

Both deal with names, but from different angles:

• heten = “to be called / to be named” (the thing has a name)

  • Hoe heet dit gerecht? – What is this dish called?

• noemen = “to call / to name” (someone gives a name)

  • Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht? – What do you (you all) call this dish?

In practice:

• Hoe heet dit gerecht? is more common in restaurants, menus, etc.
• Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht? puts more focus on how you (this group) refer to it (for example, a family recipe that might have a special name in that family).

What exactly does jullie mean here? Is it like “you guys”?

Yes. jullie is:

• 2nd person plural: you (more than one person)
• Informal

So:

• jij / je = you (singular, informal)
• jullie = you (plural, informal “you guys / you all”)
• u = you (singular or plural, formal/polite)

In Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?, the speaker is clearly addressing a group informally: “What do you (you guys) call this dish?”

Could I leave jullie out and just say Hoe noemen dit gerecht??

No. Hoe noemen dit gerecht? is wrong because Dutch still needs a clear subject.

Grammatical options:

• Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht? – What do you (pl.) call this dish?
• Hoe noem jij dit gerecht? – What do you (sg.) call this dish?
• Hoe heet dit gerecht? – What is this dish called? (no subject “you”, the subject is dit gerecht)

So you cannot simply drop jullie while keeping noemen in this structure.

How would I say this politely to a waiter I don’t know?

Use u (formal “you”) and adjust the verb:

• Hoe noemt u dit gerecht? – What do you (polite) call this dish?

However, most natural in a restaurant is usually:

• Hoe heet dit gerecht? – What is this dish called?

That sounds neutral and polite without focusing directly on you as a person.

Why is the verb noemen in second position? Why not Hoe jullie noemen dit gerecht?

Dutch is a verb-second (V2) language in main clauses, including questions with a question word:

Pattern:

1. Question word
2. Finite verb
3. Subject
4. Rest

So:

• Hoe (question word)
• noemen (finite verb)
• jullie (subject)
• dit gerecht (rest)

→ Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

Hoe jullie noemen dit gerecht? breaks the V2 rule and is ungrammatical in standard Dutch.

In English I need “do”: “What do you call this dish?”. Why is there no equivalent do in Dutch?

Dutch does not use a dummy auxiliary like English do.

• English: What *do you call this dish?*
• Dutch: Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

In Dutch, you simply conjugate the main verb (noemen) and move it to second position. There is no separate word like do needed to form questions or negatives (with some minor exceptions like doen for emphasis, but that’s another topic).

Why is it dit gerecht and not deze gerecht?

Because of gender and demonstratives:

• gerecht is an het-word: het gerecht
• For het-words in the singular and near the speaker, you use dit.
• For de-words in the singular and near the speaker, you use deze.

So:

• dit gerecht – this dish (correct)
• ✗ deze gerecht – incorrect; gerecht doesn’t take deze

What does gerecht mean here exactly? Is it “dish” or “meal” or something else?

gerecht typically means:

• A dish or course in a meal (starter, main course, dessert, etc.)

Examples:

• een hoofdgerecht – a main course
• een voorgerecht – a starter
• een nagerecht / dessert – a dessert

It’s more specific than maaltijd (meal in general) and a bit more neutral/formal than schotel (which often suggests the physical plate or a particular prepared dish).

Could I just say Hoe noemen jullie dit? without gerecht?

Yes, that’s possible and natural if it’s clear from context that you’re talking about food:

• Hoe noemen jullie dit? – What do you call this?

If you want to be explicit that you mean the dish, you add gerecht:

• Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?

Both are fine; the second is just more specific.

Is Hoe heet dit gerecht? exactly the same as Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht??

They are very close in meaning but not identical in focus:

• Hoe heet dit gerecht?
  – Neutral: What is this dish called?
  – Focus: the dish’s name, whoever gave it.

• Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht?
  – What do you (you as a group) call this dish?
  – Focus: how you people refer to it (could imply that different groups might call it different things).

In many everyday situations, you can safely use Hoe heet dit gerecht?.

How do I pronounce Hoe noemen jullie dit gerecht??

Key points:

• hoe – like English “hoo”
• noemen – noo-men (oo as in “food”)
• jullie – YUH-lee (short u, like the vowel in British “put”, not “you-lee”)
• dit – like English “dit” in “credit” (short i)
• gerecht – roughly guh-RECHT

For gerecht:

• The g and ch are the typical Dutch guttural sound (back of the throat, voiceless fricative, similar to the German Bach).
• Stress is usually on the second syllable: ge-recht.

So spoken rhythmically:
Hoe NOO-men JUH-lie dit ge-RECHT?