Breakdown of De student leest een boek in de kamer.
een
a/an
de student
the student
het boek
the book
lezen
to read
Questions & Answers about De student leest een boek in de kamer.
Why is it spelled leest with a double 'e' and an 's', when the full verb is lezen?
To find the stem of lezen (to read), we remove -en, leaving 'lez'. Dutch words cannot end in 'z', so it changes to an 's'. Also, the 'e' in lezen is a long vowel. To keep that long sound when the word ends in a consonant, we must double the vowel to lees. Finally, because the subject (De student) acts as 'he' or 'she', we add the -t ending for this lesson's rule to get leest.
Can leest also mean 'is reading'?
Yes! Dutch doesn't have a separate 'is doing' tense the way English does. De student leest translates to both 'The student reads' and 'The student is reading'.
Is boek a de word or a het word, and why does it use een here?
Book is a het word (het boek), while room is a de word (de kamer). However, the word for 'a' or 'an' is always een in Dutch, regardless of whether the noun goes with de or het.
Is there a specific reason why een boek comes before in de kamer?