Breakdown of Ze wonen in een groen dorp.
een
a/an
in
in
wonen
to live
groen
green
het dorp
the village
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
Questions & Answers about Ze wonen in een groen dorp.
Why is it groen and not groene?
Usually, adjectives placed in front of a noun get an -e added to the end. However, this sentence shows an important exception! When you have a het word (like het dorp) combined with een (a/an), the adjective does not get the extra -e. So it stays een groen dorp.
What happens to groen if we say 'the green village' instead of 'a green village'?
If we use het (the) instead of een (a/an), the adjective goes back to the normal rule and gets an -e. So 'the green village' is het groene dorp. The special exception of dropping the -e only happens with een (or when there is no article at all before a singular het word).
Is there a clue in this sentence that tells me dorp is a het word?
Yes! Because the adjective groen doesn't have an -e on the end after een, it tells you immediately that dorp must be a het word. If it were a de word, it would have to be een groene.... This is a really handy trick for figuring out noun genders when you are reading!
The word Ze can mean 'she' or 'they'. How do we know it means 'they' here?
You can tell by looking at the action word, wonen (to live). Wonen is the plural form. If the sentence meant 'she', the verb would be singular: Ze woont (She lives). Because the verb is wonen, Ze has to mean 'they'.
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