The translation provided for ‘wel’ in the Dutch course I am curating is ‘as many as’, which does indeed seem to be ONE of the meanings of ‘wel’, but my question is:
what is/are the most common way(s) “wel” is used?
As the course is an introduction to Dutch, I don’t want to have a mega-long entry (and this doesn’t work well with the memrise format, anyway), but I would like to at least include the most common usages and meanings.
Emphasising is common as you’ve already seen. Also confirming something.
It is used as a modal particle which makes it terribly difficult to translate. And sometimes to express a contrast.
Some examples for common usage:
Ga je wel of niet? Are you going yes or no?
Ik denk het wel. I think so.
Zij heeft het niet gedaan maar ik kan je vertellen wie wel. She did not do it but I can tell you who did.
Nee, het gaat wel. I’m okay. (when offered help)
Er is wel een klein probleem. There is, however, a small problem.
About the current translation I had to think hard. It is correct in certain sentences but is not that common. … soms wel duizend per dag. … sometimes as many as a thousand a day.
There are also lots of combinations with “wel”. best wel - pretty, quite straks wel - later nog wel - sometime later
Lots of fun with a small word.
I shall have a look at your example sentences and other ones I can find and, hopefully, I can find a couple of short ones that I could use as examples for a definition.
Btw, for all speakers of the melodic language of love - German: Very often the German “wohl” is a possible translation of “wel”. “wohl” ain’t as ubiquitous as “wel” in Dutch but is often used in informal speech (or informal “woll”, “wa”). Interestingly enough the English “well”, German “wohl” and Dutch “wel” are related. The usage and meaning of the English “well” is quite different from it’s continental siblings. However sometimes “well” is pretty much used like “wel” - check the Wiktionary entry for “well”.
