Breakdown of De vrouw heeft één auto, maar wij hebben twee auto's.
de vrouw
the woman
de auto
the car
maar
but
wij
we
hebben
to have
één
one
twee
two
Questions & Answers about De vrouw heeft één auto, maar wij hebben twee auto's.
Why does één have accent marks on the letters?
The accent marks show that it means the number one (1). Without the accents, een is just the article meaning a or an. Since this sentence contrasts exactly one car with two cars, the accents emphasize the number.
Why is the plural of auto written as auto's with an apostrophe? In English, that usually means possession.
In Dutch, nouns that end in a single open vowel (like a, i, o, u, or y) get an apostrophe plus s for their plural. This spelling rule keeps the vowel sounding long. So auto's is strictly plural (cars), not possessive!
Why do we use heeft for the woman but hebben for us?
Both are forms of the verb hebben (to have). You use heeft for he, she, or it. Because de vrouw (the woman) is a she, she gets heeft. Hebben is the full plural form used for we, you all, and they (wij, jullie, zij).
Does the word maar (but) change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, maar is a simple conjunction that just glues two normal sentences together without changing their word order. Both halves follow the standard Subject-Verb-Object pattern: wij (subject) hebben (verb) twee auto's (object).
Learn De vrouw heeft één auto, maar wij hebben twee auto's and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free