Breakdown of De kinderen spelen op de boerderij.
het kind
the child
spelen
to play
op
on
de boerderij
the farm
Questions & Answers about De kinderen spelen op de boerderij.
Why is the plural of "kind" "kinderen" instead of just adding "-en"?
Kinderen is one of a small group of irregular Dutch nouns that take an -eren ending in the plural. The singular is kind (child) and the plural becomes kinderen. Another common example you will learn in this lesson is het ei (the egg) which becomes de eieren.
Since "kind" is a "het" word (het kind), why does the sentence start with "De"?
In Dutch, all plural nouns use the definite article de (the), no matter what article their singular form uses. Even though it is het kind in the singular, it must always be de kinderen in the plural.
Is "spelen" just the dictionary form of the verb?
Yes! In the present tense, Dutch plural subjects (like de kinderen, which represents "they") always take the full infinitive (dictionary) form of the verb. If it were just one child, it would be het kind speelt.
Why do we use "op" instead of "in" for playing at a farm?
Prepositions can be tricky because they often don't translate word-for-word, but this one matches English perfectly! Just as you play "on" a farm in English, you play op de boerderij in Dutch. You would only use in if you meant they were physically inside the farmhouse building.