Twaalf kamers zijn groot en twintig kamers zijn klein.

Breakdown of Twaalf kamers zijn groot en twintig kamers zijn klein.

zijn
to be
en
and
groot
big
klein
small
de kamer
the room
twaalf
twelve
twintig
twenty

Questions & Answers about Twaalf kamers zijn groot en twintig kamers zijn klein.

Is twaalf related to the English word "twelve"?
Yes! Dutch and English belong to the same language family, so many of their numbers look and sound similar. The aa in twaalf gives it a long "ah" sound, and the English "v" appears as an f in Dutch.
How do you pronounce the -ig at the end of twintig?
The -ig ending in Dutch numbers like twintig (twenty) is pronounced more like "uhkh". It sounds like the short "i" in "sit" followed by a soft, breathy "ch" sound (like in the Scottish word "loch"). It is never pronounced with a hard "g" like in the English word "pig".
Why does the plural of kamer end in -s (kamers) instead of -en?
While most Dutch nouns take an -en ending to become plural, words that end in an unstressed syllable like -er, -el, -em, or -en usually just take an -s. Since kamer ends in -er, its plural is kamers.
Since kamers is plural, why aren't the adjectives written as grote and kleine?
In Dutch, adjectives only get an extra -e ending when they are placed directly before the noun they describe (for example, de grote kamers). Because groot and klein come after the verb zijn (are) in this sentence, they keep their basic dictionary form.

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