Breakdown of De jongens mogen niet in het water zwemmen.
de jongen
the boy
niet
not
het water
the water
in
in
Questions & Answers about De jongens mogen niet in het water zwemmen.
Why is niet placed before in het water instead of at the end of the sentence?
In Dutch, niet usually comes after the first verb (mogen) but before phrases that describe a specific location, like in het water.
Why is the verb zwemmen at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because of the verb mogen (to be allowed to). When you use a helping verb like this in Dutch, the main action verb (zwemmen) is always pushed all the way to the end of the sentence.
Does mogen niet mean the same thing as "must not" in English?
Yes. mogen means "to be allowed to", so mogen niet translates to "are not allowed to". This is the standard Dutch way to express "must not" when talking about rules or prohibitions.
Is there a rule for why it is het water and not de water?
water is a neuter noun, which means it takes the article het. There is no strict rule for figuring this out just by looking at the word, so it is best to memorize the article along with the noun as het water.