Breakdown of Het is 's nachts erg donker buiten.
zijn
to be
buiten
outside
erg
very / really
het
it
donker
dark
's nachts
at night
Questions & Answers about Het is 's nachts erg donker buiten.
Where does the word 's nachts come from, and why does it start with an apostrophe?
The 's is a shortened form of des, an old Dutch word meaning 'of the'. The extra -s at the end of nachts is also a leftover from this older grammar. Today, 's nachts is simply a fixed expression that means 'at night' or 'during the night'.
If I start the sentence with 's nachts, do I capitalize the s?
No, you never capitalize the 's. If you move it to the beginning, the very next word gets the capital letter instead. It would become: 's Nachts is het erg donker buiten.
Why is 's nachts placed before buiten? Could I match the English order and put it at the end?
In Dutch, it is much better to put 's nachts earlier in the sentence. Dutch follows a Time-Manner-Place word order rule. This means that words showing when something happens ('s nachts) must usually come before words showing where it happens (buiten).
I learned that erg means 'bad' or 'terrible'. Why does the translation say 'very'?
You are right that erg means 'bad' when used on its own to describe something. However, when you put erg directly in front of another adjective like donker (dark), it changes into a word that simply means 'very'.
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