Breakdown of In de herfst vallen de bladeren van de bomen.
in
in
de boom
the tree
vallen
to fall
de herfst
the autumn
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
het blad
the leaf
Questions & Answers about In de herfst vallen de bladeren van de bomen.
Why do we say In de herfst instead of just In herfst?
When talking about seasons with the preposition in, Dutch almost always includes the definite article de. While in English you can just say "in autumn", in Dutch you literally say "in the autumn" (in de herfst). This is the same for in de zomer (in summer) and in de lente (in spring).
Why is the verb vallen placed before the subject de bladeren?
This is a great example of the Dutch "verb second" rule. Because the sentence starts with a time phrase (In de herfst), that phrase takes up the first position. The main verb (vallen) must stay in the second position, which forces the subject (de bladeren) to move behind the verb.
Is bladeren a regular plural word?
No, it is an irregular plural! The singular word for "leaf" is het blad. Instead of just adding -en or -s like most regular Dutch words, it adds -eren to become bladeren.
Why does bomen only have one 'o' when the singular word is boom?
This happens because of the Dutch spelling rules for long vowels. The singular word boom needs two 'o's to keep the vowel sound long because it ends in a consonant. In the plural bomen, the word breaks into syllables as bo-men. Since the first syllable now ends in the vowel 'o', it automatically keeps its long sound, so the extra 'o' is dropped.
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