Word
Ziet hij die vogel?
Meaning
Does he see that bird?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ziet hij die vogel?
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
zien
to see
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
de vogel
the bird
Questions & Answers about Ziet hij die vogel?
Why does the sentence start with ziet instead of a word for 'does'?
To ask a yes/no question in Dutch, you simply swap the verb and the subject. Dutch doesn't use helper words like 'does' or 'do'. So hij ziet (he sees) becomes ziet hij (does he see).
What is the infinitive (full dictionary form) of ziet?
The infinitive is zien (to see). It is a very common verb. For hij (he), you take the stem zie and add a -t to make ziet.
Why do we use die for 'that' instead of dat?
In Dutch, 'that' translates to die for de-words and dat for het-words. Because bird is de vogel, we must use die vogel (that bird).
Would the verb change if I asked 'Do you see?' instead of 'Does he see?'?
Yes! If you ask 'Do you see?' (zie jij?), the verb drops the -t. This is a special rule: when jij or je (you) comes right after the verb, the -t disappears. But for hij, the -t always stays.