Breakdown of De taxi's vertrekken om tien uur.
tien
ten
het uur
hour / o'clock
om
at (time)
vertrekken
to leave / to depart
de taxi
the taxi
Questions & Answers about De taxi's vertrekken om tien uur.
Why does taxi's have an apostrophe, unlike plural words in English?
In Dutch, nouns ending in a single vowel (like a, i, o, u, or y) take an apostrophe plus 's' in the plural. This is to keep the vowel sound long. If we just added an 's' to make taxis, the 'i' would suddenly be read as a short vowel sound. The apostrophe protects the original pronunciation.
Why do we use om for "at"? Isn't om usually "around"?
While om can mean "around" (like walking around a park), it is also the standard word used for specific times on the clock. So whenever you want to say "at [time] o'clock" in Dutch, you always use om.
Is uur plural here, since it's "ten o'clock"?
No, uur stays singular! In Dutch, when you use a number before certain measurements of time like uur (hour/o'clock) or jaar (year), the noun often remains in its singular form. You say één uur, twee uur, and tien uur.
Could I use gaan instead of vertrekken to say the taxis leave?
Not really. Gaan simply means "to go". Vertrekken specifically means "to depart" or "to leave". It is the most natural verb to use for vehicles starting a journey, as well as for people leaving a location.
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