Breakdown of Eten de jongens veel pinda's?
de jongen
the boy
veel
much / many / a lot of
eten
to eat
de pinda
the peanut
Questions & Answers about Eten de jongens veel pinda's?
Why does pinda's have an apostrophe before the "s"?
In Dutch, if a singular noun ends in a single vowel like a, i, o, u, or y, adding just an "s" would change how the vowel sounds. "Pindas" would make the "a" sound short. To keep the long "a" sound of pinda, we add an apostrophe: pinda's.
Why is the plural of jongen just jongens instead of getting an -en at the end?
While many Dutch words get -en in the plural, words that end in an unstressed -el, -em, -en, -er, or -je usually just take an -s. Because jongen ends in that unstressed -en sound, it simply becomes jongens.
Where is the word for "are" in Eten de jongens?
Dutch doesn't use an "are doing" form like English does. To ask "Are the boys eating?", you just put the present tense verb first followed by the subject: Eten de jongens? (literally "Eat the boys?").
Does veel mean "many" or "a lot of"?
It means both! In Dutch, veel is a very handy word that covers "much", "many", and "a lot of". Here, veel pinda's translates nicely to "a lot of peanuts".