Gauw or Binnenkort?

by **rhino514** » May 11th, 2011, 3:12 pm

Hi

Is there any difference at all betyween gauw and binnenkort? Can they be used almost always interchangeably? And is the meaning of straks closer to "later" (rather than "soon")?

bedankt!

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by **Quetzal** » May 11th, 2011, 8:37 pm

rhino514 wrote:Hi

Is there any difference at all betyween gauw and binnenkort? Can they be used almost always interchangeably? And is the meaning of straks closer to "later" (rather than "soon")?

bedankt!

"Gauw" is more specifically Dutch-Dutch and unusual in Flanders. But within the Netherlands, the two can indeed be synonyms. "Gauw" can also be used in a meaning more like "quickly", though, e.g. "Ga eens gauw naar de winkel" or "Ik ga nog gauw even een paar dingen doen". In that meaning, you can't use "binnenkort", nor "straks".

Other than that, "straks" generally refers to the same day, it's less common to use it in a more general sense (and even then it only works in some contexts), while "binnenkort" is more vague, in fact usually does not refer to the same day. Whereas "gauw" can be anywhere between a few minutes and a few months depending on context, I would say.

by **rhino514** » May 12th, 2011, 9:56 am

thanks!

Just curious then, if Gauw is not so common in Flanders and Binnenkort does not generally refer to the same day, what would be the most common term for "the same day"in flanders? Would it be straks then?
And can "straks" be used often for the same day in the Netherlands in cases such as "I´ll go soon (today) to the supermarket?" (i assume gauw is also acceptable)?

by **Grytolle** » May 12th, 2011, 4:41 pm

's effes, perhaps, but I was never good at temporal expressions in Dutch

by **Quetzal** » May 12th, 2011, 9:34 pm

rhino514 wrote:thanks!

Just curious then, if Gauw is not so common in Flanders and Binnenkort does not generally refer to the same day, what would be the most common term for "the same day"in flanders? Would it be straks then?
And can "straks" be used often for the same day in the Netherlands in cases such as "I´ll go soon (today) to the supermarket?" (i assume gauw is also acceptable)?

"Straks" or, as Grytolle says, a dialectical word which I'm not sure how to spell as it's never written, but it sounds more like "sevves" than like the way he spells it.

And yeah, rather "straks" than "gauw". Which I think is more often used as "quickly" than as "soon", on the whole.