Questions & Answers about De man zoekt vissen in het water.
Why does vissen have a double 's' if the singular is just vis?
This is an important spelling rule in Dutch. When you add the plural ending -en to a word with a short vowel like vis, you must double the final consonant. This keeps the 'i' sounding short. If you only wrote visen, the 'i' would incorrectly become a long vowel sound.
The English translation says "fish". Is vissen plural here?
Yes! In English, the word "fish" is used for both singular and plural (one fish, two fish). In Dutch, however, you must use the regular plural form vissen when talking about multiple fish.
Where is the word for "for" in the Dutch sentence?
It is built right into the verb. The Dutch verb zoeken means "to search" or "to look for". So, zoekt alone translates to "is looking for". You do not need to add an extra word for "for".
Why is it het water and not de water?
In Dutch, all nouns are either "de" words or "het" words. Water is a neuter noun, which means it must use het for the word "the". This is something you just have to memorize when you learn the word.