Breakdown of Er zijn veel runderen op die boerderij.
zijn
to be
veel
much / many / a lot of
op
on
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
Questions & Answers about Er zijn veel runderen op die boerderij.
What is the singular form of runderen?
The singular is het rund (the bovine or head of cattle). To make it plural, it gets the irregular -eren ending, just like kind becomes kinderen and ei becomes eieren. Note that while English uses the collective word 'cattle', Dutch treats runderen as a regular countable plural noun.
Why do we use Er zijn here instead of Daar zijn for 'There are'?
Why is it die boerderij instead of dat boerderij?
Farm is a de-word (de boerderij). For all de-words, you must use die for 'that' and deze for 'this'. You only use dat and dit with het-words.
Why does Dutch use the preposition op here?
Just like in English, animals live 'on' a farm (op de boerderij). The preposition op is used because it refers to being on the grounds or the area of land, rather than being enclosed inside a specific building.