Questions & Answers about Het meisje is erg verdrietig.
Why does this sentence use erg for "very"? Can I use heel instead?
Yes, you can! Both erg and heel mean "very" and are often interchangeable in Dutch. Erg is frequently used with emotions (like verdrietig) or negative situations, but saying heel verdrietig is also perfectly correct.
Why is there no -e at the end of verdrietig? I thought adjectives usually get an -e.
You only add an -e when the adjective is placed directly before the noun it describes (for example, het verdrietige meisje for "the sad girl"). Here, verdrietig comes after the verb is. When an adjective is separated from the noun like this, it never gets an extra -e.
Why is it het meisje and not de meisje? A girl is a person, right?
While people and professions usually get de, meisje is a strict exception because of how the word is formed. It ends in -je, which is the ending for diminutives (words for "little" things). In Dutch, absolutely all diminutives are het words, no matter what they refer to.
How do I pronounce the -ig at the end of verdrietig?