Breakdown of Onze plant is gegroeid.
zijn
to be
de plant
the plant
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
groeien
to grow
Questions & Answers about Onze plant is gegroeid.
Why do we use is instead of heeft for "has"?
In Dutch, verbs that describe a change of state or a change in location (like growing, dying, or arriving) use forms of zijn (to be) as their helping verb instead of hebben (to have). Because growing is a change of state, the Dutch literally say the plant "is" grown!
Does is gegroeid literally translate to "is grown"?
Yes! Word-for-word, this sentence is "Our plant is grown." Even though it sounds more natural in English to translate it as "has grown," you need to get used to using the "to be" mental model for these types of verbs in Dutch.
Why does the past participle gegroeid end with a -d rather than a -t?
Regular past participles end in either -d or -t. To decide which one to use, we look at the verb stem (groei). Because it ends in a vowel sound (which is not one of the hard consonants in the "'t kofschip" or "soft ketchup" memory rule), it gets a -d.
Why is it onze plant and not ons plant?
Plant is a de-word (de plant). When saying "our", you must use onze for all de-words and plurals. You only use ons for singular het-words (like ons huis).
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