Breakdown of Hij wil mijn ooms portemonnee lenen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
willen
to want
mijn
my
de portemonnee
the wallet
de oom
the uncle
lenen
to borrow / to lend
Questions & Answers about Hij wil mijn ooms portemonnee lenen.
Why is there no apostrophe in ooms? English uses "uncle's".
In Dutch, you only use an apostrophe before the possessive -s if attaching it directly would change the pronunciation of a vowel at the end of a word (like oma's or Leo's). Because oom ends in a consonant, we just attach the -s directly to make ooms.
Could I say de portemonnee van mijn oom instead?
Yes, absolutely! Using van (of) is a very common way to show possession in Dutch. Both de portemonnee van mijn oom and mijn ooms portemonnee are perfectly natural and mean exactly the same thing. The -s ending is just a shorter option often used for family members and names.
Why is lenen (to borrow) at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the modal verb wil (wants). In a Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb (wil) takes the second position, and any other verbs (like the full infinitive lenen) get pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Why is it hij wil and not hij wilt?
The verb willen (to want) is slightly irregular. For the third-person singular (hij, zij, het), the standard form is just wil without an added -t. While you might occasionally hear wilt in casual spoken Dutch, wil is the correct standard form.
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