Breakdown of Hij kijkt in de spiegel en scheert zich.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
en
and
in
in
kijken
to watch
zich
oneself
zich scheren
to shave
de spiegel
the mirror
Questions & Answers about Hij kijkt in de spiegel en scheert zich.
Why do we need the word zich here, since the English translation just says "shaves"?
Zich is a reflexive pronoun meaning "himself" (or herself, itself, or themselves). In Dutch, the verb scheren (to shave) is reflexive when you are shaving your own body. So while in English we just say "he shaves", Dutch requires you to literally say "he shaves himself": hij scheert zich.
If the sentence was about "me" instead of "him", would I still use zich?
Why isn't there a second hij (he) before scheert?
Just like in English, when you connect two actions with en (and) that share the exact same subject, you don't need to repeat the subject. The hij at the beginning applies to both kijkt (looks) and scheert zich (shaves himself).
What is the dictionary form of scheert and why does it have two 'e's?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is scheren. To make the "he" form, we find the stem and add a -t. Because of Dutch spelling rules, the single 'e' in the open syllable of sche-ren has a long sound. When we add the -t, the syllable becomes closed, so we have to double the 'e' to scheert to keep that long vowel sound.
Learn Hij kijkt in de spiegel en scheert zich and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free