Question 1

Why is there an apostrophe in menu's? Doesn't that mean possession in English?

Accepted Answer

In Dutch, an apostrophe-s is often used to make plurals! When a singular word ends in a single open vowel (like a, i, o, u, or y), adding a normal attached s would change the spelling rules and make the vowel sound short. To keep the long u sound in menu, Dutch adds an apostrophe first: menu's.

Question 2

Why do we use geen here instead of niet?

Accepted Answer

Geen is used to negate unspecified nouns, and it translates perfectly to "no" or "not any" in English. Because the sentence means the waiter has "no menus" (rather than "not the menus"), we must use geen instead of niet.

Question 3

Why is the verb heeft instead of hebt?

Accepted Answer

The verb hebben (to have) is irregular. Because de ober (the waiter) is a "he" or "she" (third-person singular), we must use the form heeft. You would only use hebt for "you" (jij or u).

Question 4

I learned the word kelner for waiter. Can I use that instead of ober?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Both ober and kelner are correct and very common words for "waiter" in Dutch. Ober actually started as a short version of "oberkelner" (head waiter), but today they are used interchangeably.

De ober heeft geen menu's.

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