Breakdown of Ik zie één sterretje in de donkere nacht.
ik
I
zien
to see
één
one
in
in
donker
dark
de nacht
the night
de ster
the star
Questions & Answers about Ik zie één sterretje in de donkere nacht.
Why is the diminutive of ster spelled as sterretje with an extra 'r' and '-etje'?
The base word ster (star) has a single short vowel and ends in 'r'. For words with a short vowel ending in 'r', 'l', 'm', 'n', or 'ng', we use the complex suffix -etje. We also double the final consonant to rr to keep the first 'e' sounding short.
If the original word is de ster, is the diminutive a de word or a het word?
It becomes a het word! A very strict rule in Dutch is that all diminutives are het words, regardless of the original noun's gender. So it is always het sterretje.
Why does één have accent marks on the vowels?
The accents show that it is the number 'one' (exactly one star). It is pronounced with a long 'ay' sound. Without the accents, een is just the article 'a' or 'an' and is pronounced with a short 'uh' sound.
Why do we add an '-e' to the end of donker to make it donkere?
We add the -e because it is an adjective placed right before the noun it describes. Because nacht is a de word (de nacht) and we are using the definite article de, the adjective gets the standard -e ending.
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