Questions & Answers about De kinderen zingen oude liederen.
Why do kind and lied become kinderen and liederen in the plural?
Most Dutch nouns become plural by adding -en or -s. However, a small group of nouns has an irregular plural ending in -eren. Kind (child) and lied (song) are two of the most common words in this group.
Where does the emphasis go when pronouncing words like kinderen and liederen?
The stress stays on the first syllable (kin-de-ren, lie-de-ren). The -eren ending is pronounced with two soft "schwa" sounds, so it sounds a bit like "uh-ruhn".
Why does oud get an -e at the end in oude liederen?
When an adjective comes directly before a plural noun, it almost always gets an -e added to the end. Because liederen is plural, the adjective oud (old) becomes oude.
The singular of child is het kind, so why does the sentence use de?
In Dutch, all plural nouns use the definite article de (the), regardless of whether their singular form is a de word or a het word. So, het kind becomes de kinderen.