Breakdown of Ze maken de fout niet.
niet
not
maken
to make
de fout
the mistake
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
Questions & Answers about Ze maken de fout niet.
Why does niet go at the very end of this sentence?
In Dutch, the position of niet depends on the other words in the sentence. When you have a specific, definite object like de fout (the mistake), niet is placed after the object. So instead of saying "They are not making the mistake," the Dutch word order is closer to "They make the mistake not."
Why do we use niet here instead of geen?
You use geen to negate indefinite nouns (like "a mistake" or just "mistakes"). Because this sentence is about a specific mistake (de fout), we must use niet.
The word ze can mean "she" or "they". How do we know it means "they" here?
You can tell by looking at the verb! maken is the plural form of the verb. If the sentence was about "she", it would use the singular verb form: Ze maakt de fout niet.
The translation says "are not making". Why isn't there a word for "are" in the Dutch sentence?
Dutch doesn't use a separate "are" + "-ing" structure to talk about things happening right now. The simple present tense Ze maken translates to both "They make" and "They are making".
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