Breakdown of De jongen en het meisje spelen buiten.
de jongen
the boy
het meisje
the girl
en
and
spelen
to play
Questions & Answers about De jongen en het meisje spelen buiten.
Why does spelen have only one e in the first syllable, while the singular "I play" is ik speel?
This is the open syllable spelling rule in action! When we make the verb plural, we add -en to the stem, making the syllables spe - len. Because the first syllable ends in a vowel, it is "open." In Dutch, a single vowel at the end of a syllable is automatically pronounced long. Writing speelen would be redundant, so we drop one e.
Why doesn't the open syllable rule change the spelling of buiten?
When you split buiten into syllables, you get bui - ten. Even though the first syllable ends in vowels, ui is a diphthong (a mixed vowel sound). The vowel-dropping rule only applies to the single long sounds written with double vowels: aa, ee, oo, and uu. You never drop a letter from combinations like ui, oe, or ie.
Why do we use de for jongen but het for meisje?
In Dutch, all words ending in -je are diminutives (words for small things). A strict rule is that all singular diminutive words take the article het, even if they refer to a person. Jongen doesn't have a diminutive ending, so it takes the standard de.