Breakdown of De jongen is hier en het meisje is daar.
zijn
to be
de jongen
the boy
het meisje
the girl
hier
here
en
and
daar
there
Questions & Answers about De jongen is hier en het meisje is daar.
Why does "meisje" (girl) use "het" instead of "de"?
Even though a girl is a female person, meisje is a diminutive word (a word ending in -je). In Dutch, all diminutive words always take the article het, regardless of biological gender!
How do I know to use "de" for "jongen"?
Jongen is not a diminutive, and like most nouns for people, it is a "common" gender word. All common gender nouns use de for "the".
Why doesn't the word order change after "en"?
The word en (and) is a conjunction that simply glues two normal sentences together without changing anything. The second part (het meisje is daar) keeps the standard subject-verb order just like the first part (De jongen is hier).
Are hier and daar related to the English words "here" and "there"?
Yes! Dutch and English are closely related languages. Hier sounds and means exactly the same as "here", and daar is the exact equivalent of "there".
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