Breakdown of Staan er veel bomen op de heuvel?
veel
much / many / a lot of
op
on
de boom
the tree
staan
to stand
er
there (existential)
de heuvel
the hill
Questions & Answers about Staan er veel bomen op de heuvel?
Why do we use staan instead of zijn to mean 'are'?
In Dutch, we usually use position verbs like staan (to stand), liggen (to lie), or zitten (to sit) to say where something is, rather than just using zijn (to be). Because trees are tall and upright, we say they staan on the hill.
What is the word er doing in this sentence?
Here, er works like the English word 'there' when you ask 'Are there...'. Combined with the verb, staan er translates to 'are there (standing)'.
Why does bomen only have one o, when the singular word is boom?
This is because of the Dutch open syllable rule. In the singular boom, the double o is needed to keep the long vowel sound. When we add -en to make it plural (bo-men), the syllable becomes open, so one o is enough to keep the long sound.
How would I change this sentence to ask if there are more trees, using the comparative?
You would replace veel (many) with its comparative form meer (more), making the sentence Staan er meer bomen op de heuvel?. The word veel is irregular, so it doesn't get the standard -er ending you are learning in this lesson.
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