A2-

Ze Zeggen

Sef

Language: Dutch
Released: 2015
Genre: hip-hop
Level: A2-
Difficulty score: 553
Duration: 3:17

How to study this song

The card for “Ze Zeggen” is built from 43 study entries at A2-: 11 Dutch words, 11 adjectives and 21 verb forms. Start with the glossary: muziek and oren come up again and again, so they are the ones to know first. It is unusually descriptive — 11 adjectives alongside 11 everyday words — so expect colour rather than plot. At this level the goal is recognition: hear a word, place it, keep going.

The words of this song, in several languages

Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.

Vocabulary

NL	EN	ES	IT	FR	PT	DE
muziek	music	música	musica	musique	música	Musik
oren	ears	orejas	orecchie	oreilles	orelhas	Ohren

This card holds 9 more words. You meet them when you play the song.

Adjectives

NL	EN	ES	IT

What this song teaches you

Level · A2-

Vocabulary words: 11
Adjectives: 11
Word combos: 7
Expressions: 9
Verb forms: 21
Quiz questions: 35

More Dutch songs at this level

Background

About the song

«Ze Zeggen» («They Say») is a Dutch-language hip-hop song by Sef, the stage name of the Amsterdam rapper and singer Yousef Gnaoui. It is the third track of his second solo album, «In Kleur» («In Colour»), released on 9 October 2015 on the Top Notch label. Before the album came out, «Ze Zeggen» followed «Wakker» as a single, and its music video appeared on the Top Notch YouTube channel on 18 September 2015.

Yousef Gnaoui was born in Amsterdam on 22 June 1984. He is the son of the actor and puppeteer Hassan Gnaoui and has Moroccan roots. In 2004 he started the hip-hop group Flinke Namen with a neighbour he had known since childhood, and from 2008 he scored hits with other Dutch artists, such as «Stuk» with The Partysquad, Sjaak and Dio, and «Tijdmachine» with Dio. That year he was named Rookie of the Year at the State Awards, the Dutch hip-hop prizes. His first solo album, «De leven», followed in 2011, and its title song won the State Award for best single.

«In Kleur» took four years. Sef told VICE that he made some forty to fifty tracks and sketches before choosing the fourteen songs of the album. The guests include Willie Wartaal, Faberyayo, Dio, Willem de Bruin, Vjèze Fur and Jayh, and the record came with a full-colour magazine made together with VICE. Colour is also the idea behind his videos: Sef directs them himself, and the clip for «Ze Zeggen» credits him as director and Gregory «Shaggy» Albertzoon as choreographer.

The lyric is a light-hearted protest against everyone who wants to tell you how to live. In the chorus the rapper sums up the stream of instructions he keeps receiving: do this, do it that way, do it differently. People talk a great deal, he says, but none of it matches what he himself wants.

His answer is simple: if he does not feel like it, he will not move a finger. Advice from others only sounds sweet to him when he can ignore it; he admits that he picks up just the parts that suit him, as if he were selectively deaf, and he turns the warning back to the listener: do not take for granted everything you are taught.

In the second verse the target becomes fear. People are told to be afraid of what is unknown and of anyone who is different, not to be too clever, and to trust whatever the papers print. Sef names De Telegraaf, one of the best-known daily newspapers in the Netherlands: if that is where all your news comes from, he raps, everybody looks frightening and everything looks like a threat. Then he paints the familiar picture of a reader who glances at the headlines and goes straight to the football scores and the celebrity gossip. The song closes with the chorus and his calm refusal to obey.

Verb forms

NL	EN	ES	IT	FR	PT	DE
zeggen	say	dicen	dicono	disent	dizem	sagen
moet	must	debo	devo	dois	devo	muss
doen	do	hacer	fare	faire	fazer	tun
doe	I do	hago	faccio	je fais	faço	tue
wil	want	quiero	voglio	veux	quero	will
klinkt	sounds	suena	suona	sonne	soa	klingt
horen	hear	oír	sentire	entendre	ouvir	hören
ben	I am	soy	sono	je suis	sou	bin

This card holds 13 more verb forms. You meet them when you play the song.

Did you know?

«Ze zeggen» means «they say». In Dutch, «ze» is the unstressed form of «zij» and can mean «she» or «they»; the verb shows which one: «ze zegt» is «she says», while «ze zeggen» is «they say». In this song «ze» are nameless people: parents, teachers, the media, society as a whole.

The chorus is built on the modal verb «moeten» («must, to have to») followed by an infinitive. In a Dutch subordinate clause introduced by «dat», all the verbs move to the end, so a modal such as «moet» and the infinitive «doen» stand together at the close of the sentence. The same thing happens with «willen»: in a subordinate clause the verb «wil» also goes to the end.

«Zus» and «zo» form an old pair: «zus of zo» or «zus en zo» means «this way or that way». «Zo» on its own means «so» or «like this», and «zo veel» means «so much». «Enzo» is a casual spelling of «en zo», «and so on», very common in spoken Dutch and in text messages.

«Oostindisch doof» is a fixed Dutch expression for someone who pretends not to hear, especially when they are asked to do something. The adjective «oostindisch» means «East Indian»; the expression is used with a wink and is close to the English «selectively deaf».

The idiom «muziek in de oren» works like the English «music to my ears»: something you are very glad to hear. Here it is used ironically. «Liever niet» means «rather not»; «liever» is the comparative of «graag» («gladly»), so «ik wil liever» is «I would rather».

«Bijdehand» describes someone quick-witted and a little cheeky, a know-it-all. «Eng» means «scary» or «creepy». «Roddelpagina» is a compound of «roddel» («gossip») and «pagina» («page»), and «bladeren» means «to leaf through», from «blad», a leaf or a sheet of paper. «Koppen» are the headlines of a newspaper, although «kop» can also mean «head» or «cup».

«Input» and «stereo» show how freely Dutch takes words from other languages: both are used in everyday Dutch with the same meaning as in English. «Niks» is the informal form of «niets» («nothing»), and «helemaal niks» means «nothing at all».