Breakdown of Die lamp staat naast het raam.
het raam
the window
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
de lamp
the lamp
staan
to stand
naast
next to
Questions & Answers about Die lamp staat naast het raam.
Why do we use die for 'that' here instead of dat?
In Dutch, the word for 'that' depends on the article the noun uses. Because lamp is a de word (de lamp), we use die. If we were talking about a het word, we would use dat.
If I wanted to say 'that window' later in the sentence, would I use die raam?
No, you would use dat raam. As we can see in the sentence, window is het raam. For all het words, the word for 'that' is dat, while die is strictly for de words and all plural words.
Why use staat (stands) instead of is to say where the lamp is?
Dutch speakers prefer to describe the physical position of an object rather than just saying it 'is' somewhere. Because a lamp usually rests upright on its base, we use staan (to stand). If an object lies flat, like a rug, we would use liggen (to lie).
The English translation says 'is standing', but the Dutch just says staat. Why?
Dutch does not have a direct equivalent to the English 'is doing' tense here. The single verb staat translates to both 'stands' and 'is standing'.
Learn Die lamp staat naast het raam and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free