Breakdown of Er zijn veel studenten in de stad.
zijn
to be
de student
the student
veel
much / many / a lot of
in
in
Questions & Answers about Er zijn veel studenten in de stad.
Why does this sentence start with er zijn instead of daar zijn?
Why do we use zijn here instead of is?
Zijn (are) is the plural form of the verb zijn (to be). We use it here because the subject we are introducing, veel studenten (many students), is plural. If we were talking about just one student, it would be Er is een student (There is a student).
Does veel mean "much" or "many" here?
It means "many" here, but veel actually translates to both! In Dutch, veel is used for countable things (like veel studenten / many students) as well as uncountable things (like veel water / much water).
How is the plural of student formed in this sentence?
In Dutch, most nouns are made plural by adding either -en or -s. The noun student takes -en to become the plural studenten.