Breakdown of Ze lezen de krant.
lezen
to read
de krant
the newspaper
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
Questions & Answers about Ze lezen de krant.
Ze can mean she or they. How do I know it means they in this sentence?
You can tell by looking at the verb lezen. It is in the plural infinitive form. If the sentence was about she, the verb would use the singular form that ends in a -t: Ze leest de krant.
The lesson covers the verbal stem (ik-form). What is the stem of lezen?
The stem of lezen is lees. To get this, we drop the -en from the infinitive, but we also have to make two common spelling changes so the word sounds right and follows Dutch rules.
Why does the stem lees have a double e and end in s?
First, Dutch words almost never end in the letter z, so the z changes to an s. Second, the first part of le-zen has a long vowel sound. To keep that same long sound in a short word ending in a consonant, we must write it with two vowels: lees.
Is there a rule to know that krant takes de instead of het?
There is no simple rule for krant, but about 75% of Dutch words use de. The best habit is to learn every new noun with its matching article, so always practice and memorize it as de krant right from the start.
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