Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about De bergen zijn groot.
How do we make the word for "mountain" plural here?
The singular word for mountain is berg. To make it plural, we just add the regular -en ending, making it bergen.
Why do we use the article de for bergen?
In Dutch, all plural nouns use the article de for "the". Even if a noun takes het in the singular, it will always switch to de when it becomes plural.
Since bergen is plural, shouldn't groot have an -e at the end?
No, because of where it is in the sentence. An adjective only gets an extra -e when it comes directly before the noun (like in de grote bergen). When it comes after the verb, as it does here, it stays in its basic form: groot.
Why do we use zijn in this sentence?
Zijn means "are". Because the subject, de bergen, is plural, we must use the plural form of the verb "to be", which is zijn, rather than the singular form is.