Breakdown of Het regent in de herfst en het is koud in de winter.
zijn
to be
en
and
in
in
koud
cold
het
it
regenen
to rain
de herfst
the autumn
de winter
the winter
Questions & Answers about Het regent in de herfst en het is koud in de winter.
How does the word en affect the word order in the second part of the sentence?
It doesn't change the word order at all. The word en (and) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it simply glues two normal, complete sentences together. The second part, het is koud in de winter, keeps the standard subject-verb order just like the first part. This is also true when you use maar (but) or of (or).
Why do we use het (it) twice in this sentence?
Just like in English, Dutch uses a 'dummy subject' to talk about the weather. Because every sentence needs a subject to perform the verb, we use het for both het regent (it rains) and het is koud (it is cold).
In English, we usually just say 'in autumn' or 'in winter' without the word 'the'. Why is there a de before the seasons here?
In Dutch, it is standard to use the definite article when talking about seasons in a general sense. All four seasons are 'de-words': de lente (spring), de zomer (summer), de herfst (autumn), and de winter (winter).
Is regent a noun here, like a person in charge?
No, they are 'false friends'. In this sentence, regent is the verb. It is the he/she/it form of the verb regenen (to rain). You take the stem regen and add a -t because the subject is het.
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