Word
Hij is een jongen.
Meaning
He is a boy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hij is een jongen.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
een
a/an
de jongen
the boy
Questions & Answers about Hij is een jongen.
How should I pronounce the ij in hij?
The ij combination is a special Dutch vowel. It sounds somewhere between the "ay" in "say" and the "igh" in "high". So hij sounds a bit like the English word "hi" or "hay".
Is the Dutch word is exactly the same as in English?
Yes, it is! For the "he/she/it" forms, the Dutch verb zijn (to be) becomes is, just like in English. So hij is translates perfectly to "he is".
How do you pronounce the word een?
It is pronounced like "uhn" (with a soft "uh" sound, similar to the "a" in "about"). It is a very common beginner mistake to read it with a long "ay" or "ee" sound. It only gets a long sound if it is written with accent marks (één), which means the number "one".
Do I need to know if jongen is a de or het word to use een?
Luckily, no! While Dutch has two words for "the" (de and het), there is only one word for "a" or "an": een. You can use een in front of any singular noun, regardless of its gender.