Breakdown of Een moeilijk gesprek is soms heel belangrijk.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
heel
very
soms
sometimes
moeilijk
difficult
het gesprek
the conversation
belangrijk
important
Questions & Answers about Een moeilijk gesprek is soms heel belangrijk.
Why is it moeilijk and not moeilijke?
This is because gesprek is a het-word (het gesprek). When a singular het-word is used with een (a/an), the adjective in front of it does not get an -e added to the end. If we used het instead of een, it would be het moeilijke gesprek.
Why doesn't belangrijk get an -e ending?
Belangrijk (important) describes the conversation, but it comes after the verb is, rather than directly in front of the noun. In Dutch, adjectives only ever get an -e ending when they are placed directly in front of the noun they describe.
I thought heel meant "whole". Why does it mean "very" here?
You are right that heel can mean "whole" (as in de hele wereld for "the whole world"). However, when you place heel directly in front of an adjective like belangrijk, it acts as an adverb meaning "very".
Moeilijk and belangrijk look like they have similar endings. Are they pronounced the same way?
No, they are different! The common ending -lijk in moeilijk (difficult) is pronounced like "luk". However, belangrijk (important) ends in -rijk, which keeps its full ij vowel sound.
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