Breakdown of De student leest zes kranten, maar ik lees zeven boeken.
ik
I
de student
the student
het boek
the book
maar
but
lezen
to read
de krant
the newspaper
zes
six
zeven
seven
Questions & Answers about De student leest zes kranten, maar ik lees zeven boeken.
How do I pronounce the starting sound in zes and zeven?
In Dutch, a z at the start of a word is often pronounced a bit softer than in English, sometimes sounding almost like an 's'. Don't worry if your zes sounds a bit like 'ses' - many native speakers say it that way too!
Why do kranten and boeken both end in -en?
In Dutch, the most common way to make a noun plural is by adding -en to the end of the singular word. So krant (newspaper) becomes kranten, and boek (book) becomes boeken. The numbers zes (6) and zeven (7) tell us we have more than one, so we must use these plural forms.
Why does the verb change from leest to lees?
The verb changes based on who is doing the action. For ik (I), you use the basic stem of the verb: lees. For a third person like de student, you add a 't' to the stem, making it leest.
Does the word maar change the order of the words after it?
No, maar (but) is a connecting word that just links two normal sentences without shifting the word order. The second part, ik lees zeven boeken, keeps the standard order of subject (ik) followed immediately by the verb (lees).
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