Breakdown of De collega's kijken naar de foto's.
naar
to
de collega
the colleague
de foto
the photo
kijken naar
to look at / to watch
Questions & Answers about De collega's kijken naar de foto's.
Why do collega's and foto's have an apostrophe in their plural forms?
In Dutch, nouns that end in a single vowel like -a, -i, -o, -u, or -y get an apostrophe plus s for their plural. If we just added an s to make collegas or fotos, the pronunciation rules would make the final vowel sound short. The apostrophe tells you to keep the a in collega and the o in foto sounding long.
Would a word ending in 'e' also get this apostrophe?
No, words ending in an unaccented e just get a regular s without the apostrophe, for example tantes or meisjes. The apostrophe is only needed for the other vowels because their pronunciation would change without it. The short e at the end of Dutch words already has a fixed sound, so adding a plain s works perfectly.
Why does the sentence use naar for looking at the photos?
The verb kijken (to look) pairs with the preposition naar when you mean to look at something. While naar often translates to the English word to, with kijken, it is simply the fixed preposition for looking at an object or person.
Is the article for plural words like foto's always de?