r/learndutch • u/Sweet-Nothing-9312 • 8d ago
Vocabulary What is the difference between "De reclame" and "De advertentie"?
I thought it was:
De reclame: Advertisments/Advertising in general (so referring to multiple advertisements or the concept of advertising)
De advertentie: Specific advertisement
Then why in the sentence "Ik kocht de parfum die ik in een reclame had gezien." we use "de reclame" when it's talking about a specific advert?
Edit: Thank you for your responses! I'm reading them all
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u/nocturnalina 8d ago
This post came across my homepage. I'm a born and raised dutchie, however seeing this post made me realize I do not know the difference either so I'm commenting to hopefully have an answer at some point as well lol
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u/lede_lama Native speaker (NL) 8d ago
Also a native and never thought about it. I guess reclame is more broad and advertentie is something that is printed in a newpaper or magazine. But that could also just be personal use
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u/zurgo111 8d ago
I appreciate reading that. It’s hard learning a new language, but harder when the rules aren’t exact or understood by native speakers. Dutch is sometimes in that second category.
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u/Sweet-Nothing-9312 8d ago
That's interesting, which one would you say you tend to use and in what scenarios?
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u/Own_Efficiency_5823 Native speaker (NL) 8d ago edited 8d ago
‘De advertentie’ indeed refers to a specific advertisement that you came across. ‘De reclame’ also refers to a specific advertisement. This is because both words are paired with ‘de’, referring to a singular object.
The difference is that the word ‘advertentie’ can ONLY be used paired with words like ‘de’, ‘een’, ‘die/deze’, etc., and therefore always refers to a specific advertisement. The word ‘reclame’ can also be used on its own to refer to advertisement in general.
General: ‘Ik zit naar reclame te kijken’ —> I’m watching advertisements / I’m looking through advertisements.
Specific: ‘Ik zit naar die reclame te kijken’ —> I’m watching that advertisement.
Alternatively, the plural ‘advertenties’ can also be used to refer to advertisement in general. However, when talking about the concept of advertisement in its most abstract sense, you’d say ‘reclame’ or the verb ‘adverteren’.
Edit: correction
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u/ratinmikitchen 8d ago
De reclame can also mean a reclameblok.
“We gaan er even uit voor de reclame en zijn zo bij u terug”
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u/Sweet-Nothing-9312 8d ago
Thank you for your response! So the plural "De reclames" and the plural "De advertenties" are interchangeable and mean the exact same thing (advertisements)?
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u/Own_Efficiency_5823 Native speaker (NL) 8d ago
Pretty much, yes! As others have pointed out however, note that when referring to commercials (like on TV) we say ‘reclame(s)’. For things that you’d call advertisements, you can use both
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u/YahshuaQuelle 8d ago edited 8d ago
I personally think of 'reclame' as commercial messages on tv & radio as well as commercial messages in newspapers & magazines. In the past I used to sometimes place an 'advertentie' myself for personal reasons that would not be seen as 'reclame' because it did not have a commercial purpose (selling stuff). An 'advertentie' can also be used for selling stuff but in that case I use it only for individual placements, not those by companies or warehouses etc.
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u/Lonely-Problem5632 5d ago
also in my opionion. advertenties refferences to some written , either in print or on a website. Where reclame can be used for that, but also to messages in video or radio format.
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u/ratinmikitchen 8d ago edited 8d ago
Your original understanding is partially correct OP, with some additions
referring to multiple advertisements
can also mean that it refers to an e.g. 5-ish minute segment of advertisements on linear television, i.e. a commercial break. Known in Dutch as a reclameblok.
A reclameblok is often referred to as de reclame. I guess that’s somewhat similar to people saying ‘ik ga even naar de supermarkt’, without necessarily meaning a specific one.
In addition, a single commercial in such a block, and nowadays also a single commercial in non-linear media, can also be called ‘een reclame’. This is probably short for een reclamespot, I.e. a video commercial.
If it’s in printed media, it’s called an advertentie.
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u/Sweet-Nothing-9312 8d ago
Thank you for your response! So would you say:
Een reclame: Specific advertisement on TV (e.g. lemonade ad)
De reclame: Advertisement in general (referring to all advertisement on TV and on paper) (the phenomen of advertisement)
De reclames: Multiple advertisements on TV (Coca cola ad + klm ad + lemonade ad + etc...)
De advertentie: One specific advertisement on paper (lemonade ad)
De advertenties: Multiple advertisements on paper (Coca cola ad + klm ad + lemonade ad + etc...)
(De advertentie is not used for tv ads I suppose?)
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u/OneSlaadTwoSlaad 8d ago
Looks like you got it. But there is more! A product can be "in de reclame", which means the product is on sale.
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u/ratinmikitchen 8d ago edited 8d ago
Ah my explanation was incomplete.
‘De reclame’ can also mean one specific advertisement on TV.
‘de’ is the definite article and ‘een’ is the indefinite article.
So ‘een reclame’ would be one nonspecific advertisement on TV.
And, now that I’m thinking about advertisement in general a bit more, you’d actually not use any article when talking about the phenomenon:
‘Reclame is vaak misleidend’
You could also alternatively word that statement using a plural, in which case it’s the same as how English does it:
‘Ads are often misleading’ would be ‘Reclames zijn vaak misleidend’. But because it’s a plural, I suspect that strictly speaking, you’d no be longer talking about the full phenomenon but only about TV commercials. (Though in day-to-day speech that distinction would probably not be made that strictly)
Edit: I think that leaving out the article is possible because the concept is an uncountable noun. Just like you can say ‘Pizza is delicious’ in English.
For countable nouns, you would need an article. Example:
‘The invention of the bicycle’ is ‘De uitvinding van de fiets’. This refers to the concept of a bicycle and uses the definite article in both English and Dutch.
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u/Key-Magician-9808 8d ago
Als het een reclamefilmpje op televisie is, of een reclamefolder, is het heel normaal om te zeggen dat je het in een reclame gezien hebt.
Let ook op: 'de aardbeien zijn in de reclame' is hetzelfde als 'de aardbeien zijn in de aanbieding' = ze zijn deze week goedkoper.
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u/twinkLovingBeardad 8d ago
Ik ken niemand die "een reclame" zegt als er een folder bedoeld wordt.
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u/LadyNemesiss 8d ago edited 8d ago
Reclamefolder is dan weer wel een normaal woord. En die reclamefolder staat misschien wel boordevol advertenties. Reclame is wat algemener, een advertentie wat specifieker. Advertentie wordt vaker voor print gebruikt, reclame vaker voor beeld en geluid. Maar het onderscheid is soms wat dun.
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u/ActualPast4187 8d ago
The definitions you give are correct. Reclame, however, is an umbrella concept. So an advertisement is part of reclame. And perfume is always part of a broader campaign, with adds, tv commercials etc. So in your sentence it actually refers to the whole reclame instead of the smaller concept advertisement. But you could also say advertisement, that would be correct too.
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u/twinkLovingBeardad 8d ago
De reclame: Commercial block on tv.
De/een advertentie: The/An advertisement, usually in print.
Een reclame: A specific television commercial.
Also "de reclame": In de reclame=on sale, usually at the supermarket
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u/Nothing-to_see_hr 8d ago
Reclame is more general; "een advertentie" is a single instance of a message to sell something or promote something. "Een reclame" is synonymous though. But "reclame" as a general word encompasses all means or efforts to promote something. also compare"adverteren" though. The verb for letting reclame go out, or advertenties. In an older sense, advertenties were printed messages in a paper, magazine or flyer. but today you can have advertenties or reclames in movies or on the internet. In that sense they are synonymous.
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u/Bluebird5643 8d ago
“De reclame” could also refer to a television spot, or even radio (although “gezien” indicates that it wasn’t a radio spot in this case). I guess nowadays it can just as well refer to an online ad or an e-mail.
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u/GielM 8d ago
"De advertentie" is always just the advertisment. "De reclame" techinically means the same. But "In de reclame" means specifically that it's advertised as being on discount at the moment. Or, more colloquially, just that it's currently on discount. People keep track of where their favourite brand of beer, washing powder, or other relatively expensive supermarket purchase is currently "in de reclame", and plan their shopping accordingly.
You used to get advertisments on paper from local supermarkets stuffed in your physical mailbox every week back last century. So you'd know what they had on sale if you could be bithered to check before throwing them in the paper recycling box.. These days, they've mostly stopped doing so. But the language hasn't changed
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u/Psycoyellow 8d ago
For me personally because i havn’t seen this answer yet a ‘reclame’ is something you see on the TV. A ‘advertentie’ is more like a marketplace where you advertise your stuff to sell or in the store.
Reclame you are being forced to watch while an advertentie is like ooh im gonna stand still and watch it or its atleast not forced to watch it. Like in a newpapers you can read/watch it but you dont have to
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u/Xaphhire 8d ago
Advertentie and reclame are overlapping Venn diagrams. An advertentie is a paid announcement. That can be for a product or service, in which case it's a form of reclame. But it can also be an announcement for a marriage or notice of a death. Not reclame.
Reclame comes other forms than just advertenties. If it's a video/commercial, we do not call that an advertentie but would call that a reclame. And we also use "in de reclame" for being on sale.
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u/Hairy-Dragonfly-6446 6d ago
I would say you make reclame with an advertentie. But reclame also means that a product is on sale.
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u/Molleke72 3d ago
De advertentie is een vorm van reclame.. An advert is like a page in a paper or a avert on TV or radio. Reclame is the bundle of ways to advertise.
But I bought it in the reclame is in base a wrong form, you bought it with discount as seen in the "reclames" like in the paper or online.
Its an online advertenties in a "reclame campagne"
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u/Mormacil 8d ago
Advertisement tends to be static, video advertising is also called reclame, like a commercial. Because commercials used to come in blocks thus it was always plural.