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We zijn het huis aan het schilderen.

We zijn het huis aan het schilderen.
We are painting the house.
From Lesson 51:The present continuous (zijn aan het)·Dutch

Questions & Answers about We zijn het huis aan het schilderen.

How does the grammar for 'are painting' work in this sentence?
To show that an action is happening right now, Dutch uses a form of the verb zijn (to be) plus aan het plus the infinitive (the full dictionary form) of the action verb. Here, that gives us zijn ... aan het schilderen.
Why is het huis placed before aan het schilderen?
When you use the zijn aan het structure, the object of your sentence (the thing you are acting on, which is het huis) goes between the conjugated verb zijn and the aan het part. English says 'We are painting the house', but Dutch word order is like saying 'We are the house at the painting'.
Why is the word het used twice here?
They do completely different jobs! The first one is the word 'the' for the neuter noun huis (het huis means the house). The second one is a permanent part of the grammar structure aan het. Even if you were painting a de word, you would still use aan het for the action.
Does schilderen mean painting a house, or painting a piece of art?
It can mean both! You use schilderen when painting walls and buildings with a brush or roller, but also when an artist paints a picture on a canvas.

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