Breakdown of Probeer die fiets voorzichtig.
de fiets
the bicycle
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
voorzichtig
carefully
proberen
to try
Questions & Answers about Probeer die fiets voorzichtig.
How do we know this is a command, and where is the word for 'you'?
This sentence uses the imperative mood (a command). In Dutch, just like in English, you make a command by dropping the subject (the word for 'you') and putting the verb at the very beginning. For the verb form, you just use the stem of the verb, which is probeer (from proberen, meaning 'to try').
Why is the stem probeer spelled with a double 'e' when the full verb proberen only has one?
This is because of Dutch spelling rules for long vowel sounds. In proberen, the first 'e' is at the end of a syllable (pro-be-ren), so it sounds long automatically. When we take off the -en to get the stem, the 'e' is suddenly trapped between two consonants (pro-ber). To keep that same long vowel sound, we have to double it to probeer.
Why do we use die for 'that' instead of dat?
Because fiets is a de-word (de fiets). In Dutch, you use die to say 'that' with de-words, and dat to say 'that' with het-words.
In English we add '-ly' to make 'careful' into 'carefully'. Why doesn't voorzichtig change?
In Dutch, you do not need to add a special ending to turn an adjective (like 'careful') into an adverb (like 'carefully'). You just use the exact same word! So voorzichtig can mean both 'careful' and 'carefully' depending on how it is used in the sentence.
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