Word
Onze kinderen spelen met de kalveren.
Meaning
Our children play with the calves.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Onze kinderen spelen met de kalveren.
het kind
the child
met
with
spelen
to play
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
Questions & Answers about Onze kinderen spelen met de kalveren.
Why do kind and kalf get -eren for their plural instead of the usual -en or -s?
A small group of neuter (het) words take this irregular -eren plural. kind becomes kinderen (children) and kalf becomes kalveren (calves). There are only about a dozen of these in Dutch, so it is best to just memorize them when you see them!
Why does the f in kalf change to a v in kalveren?
In Dutch, when a word ends in f, it often changes to a v when you add a plural ending. Because the -eren suffix starts with a vowel, the harsh f sound softens into a v, making kalf turn into kalveren.
If kind is a het word, why does the sentence use onze kinderen instead of ons kinderen?
You would indeed say ons kind for a single child because it is a het word. However, in the plural, all nouns act like de words (de kinderen). Because plural nouns always take de, the word for our must get an -e at the end, becoming onze.