Breakdown of Ze wil een jas kopen.
zij
she
een
a/an
kopen
to buy
willen
to want
de jas
the coat
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
Questions & Answers about Ze wil een jas kopen.
Why is kopen at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use a modal verb like wil (wants), the second verb in the sentence gets pushed to the very end in its full dictionary form. So instead of saying "She wants to buy a coat," the Dutch word order is literally "She wants a coat to buy" (Ze wil een jas kopen).
Does wil mean "will", like in "She will buy a coat"?
No, this is a tricky false friend! The Dutch verb willen means "to want", not "will". So Ze wil means "She wants". To say "She will" in Dutch, you would use a completely different verb (zullen).
Ze can mean "she" or "they". How do we know it means "she" here?
We can tell by looking at the verb wil. If the sentence meant "They want to buy a coat," the verb would take its plural form, willen. Because we see the singular form wil, we know Ze must mean "she".
Since this lesson is about geen, how would you say "She doesn't want to buy a coat"?
You would change een to geen, making the sentence: Ze wil geen jas kopen. Because een jas is a noun with "a" (een) in front of it, you must use geen (meaning "not a" or "no") to negate it, rather than using niet.
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