Breakdown of Bestel de koffie en geef de ober het geld.
en
and
het geld
the money
de koffie
the coffee
de ober
the waiter
Questions & Answers about Bestel de koffie en geef de ober het geld.
Why do the verbs bestel and geef come at the beginning of their phrases without a subject like jij (you)?
This sentence is giving commands (the imperative mood). In Dutch, just like in English, you make a command by dropping the subject (like jij) and putting the verb at the very beginning.
How do I know to use bestel instead of bestellen?
For a command, you generally use the ik (I) form of the verb. The full dictionary verb is bestellen (to order). To get the ik form, you take away the -en ending and drop the extra l, leaving you with bestel.
The verb for "to give" is geven. Why does the command form geef have a double "e" and an "f"?
Because commands use the ik form! When you remove the -en from geven, you get gev. But Dutch words never end in a v, so it changes to an f. Also, the e in geven is a long vowel sound, so we have to double it to ee in geef to keep that long sound.
Why does de ober (the waiter) come before het geld (the money)?