Breakdown of Niemand steelt iets uit deze tas.
de tas
the bag
deze
this / these
uit
out of / from
niemand
no one
Questions & Answers about Niemand steelt iets uit deze tas.
Why does the Dutch sentence use iets (something) when the English translation says "anything"?
Because niemand (nobody) already makes the sentence negative. In Dutch, you generally don't use a double negative. If you said Niemand steelt niets, it would literally mean "Nobody steals nothing" (implying that everyone is stealing something!). Since the sentence already has a negative subject, we just use iets to mean "anything".
Does niemand always take a singular verb like steelt?
Yes. Just like "nobody" or "no one" in English, niemand is treated as a single person (like "hij" or "zij"). That is why we use the singular verb form steelt instead of the plural stelen.
Why do we use uit (out of) instead of van (from) for "from this bag"?
In Dutch, when you take or move something from the inside of a container or an enclosed space (like a bag, a box, or a building), you use uit (out of). You generally use van for possession (the handle of the bag) or a starting point for travel (walking from the station).
Just to review, why is it deze tas (this bag) and not dit tas?