Word
Weet je het niet?
Meaning
Do you not know it?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Weet je het niet?
Why does niet come at the very end of this sentence?
In Dutch, niet usually comes after a specific object. Here, the specific object is the pronoun het (it). So, instead of placing niet before the object, it gets pushed to the end of the clause.
Could I say 'Weet je niet het?' like in English?
No, that would be incorrect. While English puts 'not' before 'it' (Do you not know it?), Dutch grammar rules require niet to be placed after specific direct objects, including pronouns like het.
Why is the verb Weet at the beginning of the sentence?
To ask a yes/no question in Dutch, you swap the subject (je) and the verb (weet). This is called inversion. Instead of Je weet (You know), it becomes Weet je (Do you know).
Why do we use weet here instead of ken for 'know'?
Dutch has two verbs for 'to know'. Kennen is used for being familiar with people, places, or objects. Weten is used for knowing facts or information. Here, het refers to a fact or the answer to a question, so we use a form of weten.