Grammatica - loco

12
Conjunctions
292
12.1.1.3
In the following context, where what follows ‘or’ is an explanation of
what precedes it, i.e. means ‘that is’, oftewel may be used instead of of;
it is a formal sounding word:
De cobra oftewel brilslang is giftig
The cobra or the spectacled snake (= that is the spectacled snake) is
venomous.
Ofwel is a common synonym of of in the sense of ‘or otherwise/else’, but
here of would suffice too:
Hij gaat (ofwel) morgen terug, ofwel overmorgen.
He’s returning tomorrow or otherwise/else the day after tomorrow.
This can also express ‘either . . . or’ (see 12.4.1): ‘He’s either returning
tomorrow or the day after tomorrow’.
The co-ordinating conjunction of is commonly found after negative clauses
in which case it can be translated in various ways into English:
Het scheelde niet veel of hij was overreden.
He was very nearly run over.
Nauwelijks was ik thuis of ik moest weer weg.
I was hardly home when I had to leave again.
Het duurde niet lang of ze stopten voor een groot ijzeren
hek.
It wasn’t long before they stopped in front of a large iron gate.
In addition, of is used idiomatically in the following expressions to render
‘approximately’:
een stuk of tien about ten (pieces, books, apples, etc.)
een man of acht about eight people
om een uur of acht at about eight o’clock
Note the idiomatic expression nou en of (see 10.8.1.4):
Kun je lekkere koffie zetten? Nou en of!
Can you make nice coffee? I certainly can/And how/You betcha!
Het heeft veel geregend, nietwaar? Nou en of!
It rained a lot, didn’t it? It certainly did/And how/You betcha!