Questions & Answers about Zij wassen zich in het hotel.
Why is the word zich used here for "themselves"?
In Dutch, zich is the reflexive pronoun for all third-person subjects. That means it is the word you use for "himself", "herself", "itself", and "themselves". Because the subject here is zij (they), zich translates to "themselves".
How do we know zij means "they" and not "she" in this sentence?
You can tell by looking at the verb! The word wassen is the plural form of the verb. If the sentence was about "she", the verb would be singular: zij wast zich.
Where does the reflexive pronoun belong in the sentence order?
In a basic sentence like this, the reflexive pronoun (such as zich, me, or je) comes immediately after the conjugated verb. Here, it sits right after wassen.
Why do we say het hotel instead of de hotel?
In Dutch, hotel is a neuter noun, which means it must use the definite article het for "the". Because there is no obvious rule for which words are neuter, it is best to memorize the noun and article together as het hotel.