Breakdown of De blauwe vogels zitten in de boom.
in
in
zitten
to sit
de boom
the tree
de vogel
the bird
blauw
blue
Questions & Answers about De blauwe vogels zitten in de boom.
Why is it blauwe instead of just blauw?
Because the adjective comes directly before the noun vogels (birds). In Dutch, we usually add an -e to the end of the adjective when it is placed right in front of the noun it describes. This is called attributive inflection.
Would the adjective still be blauwe if there was only one bird?
Yes, it would still be de blauwe vogel. Adjectives in front of plural nouns always get the -e suffix. For singular nouns, they also get the -e as long as the noun is a de-word, and vogel is a de-word.
Why doesn't the Dutch sentence use a word for 'are' before zitten?
Dutch doesn't use a 'to be' verb to say you 'are doing' something right now. The single verb zitten covers both the simple present ('sit') and the continuous present ('are sitting').
Why is the plural of vogel formed with an -s instead of -en?
While many Dutch plurals end in -en, nouns that end in unstressed syllables like -el, -er, or -en usually get an -s instead. Since vogel ends in -el, it becomes vogels.
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