Questions & Answers about Jullie bellen de familie.
Why does the verb bellen have a double 'l'?
The stem of the verb is bel, which has a short 'e' sound. If we just added -en to make it plural, it would become belen, split into syllables as be-len. An open syllable at the end of a word part makes the vowel long. To keep the 'e' short, we double the 'l' to close the first syllable: bel-len.
Does the spelling rule about double consonants also apply to jullie?
Yes! The word jullie has a short 'u' sound. To keep that sound short when adding another syllable, the 'l' is doubled, dividing the word into jul-lie. If it had only one 'l', it would be ju-lie, and the 'u' would become a long vowel.
Why are we using the form bellen instead of belt or bel?
Jullie means "you" when talking to more than one person. In Dutch, plural subjects (like wij, jullie, and zij) almost always take the full dictionary form of the verb, which in this case is bellen.
Does familie mean the exact same thing as "family" in English?
Mostly, yes, but be careful! In Dutch, familie usually refers to your extended family (grandparents, aunts, cousins). If you want to talk about your immediate family (parents and children living together), the Dutch word is gezin.
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