Grammatica - loco

13
Prepositions
318
behalve ‘except (for), apart from’
‘Except for’ is of course always followed by an object pronoun in English
but both subject and object pronouns are used after behalve, depending
on the semantics of the statement:
Wie gaat behalve ik? Who is going apart from me?
(subj. pronoun)
Wie zag je behalve hem? Whom did you see apart
(obj. pronoun) from him?
behalve in de zomer except (for) in summer
Behalve mijn moeder komt As well as/apart from my
ook mijn oma. mother my grandma is
coming too.
beneden ‘beneath, under’
Het is beneden zijn waardigheid. It is beneath him.
beneden de Moerdijk below/south of the Moerdijk 1
beneden de veertig (also onder) under forty
12 graden beneden nul minus twelve degrees
bij ‘by, near, at’
Often preceded by dicht/vlak in the meaning of ‘near’: 2
vlak bij het stadhuis (very) near the town hall
bij het postkantoor near the post-office
Ik woon bij (aan) het water. I live near the water.
1 Synonymous with this expression is beneden/ten zuiden van de grote rivieren. Both
expressions relate to the linguistic and cultural divide between the northern and the
southern Netherlands, where the latter may or may not include Flanders depending on
the context. These terms are also used when reporting on the weather in various parts
of the country. The Moerdijk (a dike) itself runs along the southern bank of the waterway
called Hollands Diep to the south of Rotterdam.
2 Note that the prepositions dicht bij and vlak bij (stress on first syllable) are written
as two words, whereas as adverbs they are written as one word dichtbij/vlakbij ‘nearby’
(stress on second syllable).