Questions & Answers about De winkel is vandaag dicht.
Why is it vandaag dicht and not dicht vandaag like in English?
In Dutch, time expressions like vandaag (today) usually come before other descriptive words in the sentence. So the literal order you use is "The shop is today closed".
I've also seen the word gesloten for "closed". Are dicht and gesloten the same?
Yes, they both mean "closed". Dicht is very common in everyday conversation, much like the English word "shut". Gesloten is slightly more formal and is the word you will usually see printed on official store signs.
How would I use this lesson's time vocabulary to say "The shop is closed today at a quarter past five"?
You would say: De winkel is vandaag om kwart over vijf dicht. You group your time phrases together (vandaag om kwart over vijf), and the state of the shop (dicht) still gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.