Breakdown of Mijn koffer is veel zwaarder dan jouw tas.
zijn
to be
veel
much / many / a lot of
de tas
the bag
mijn
my
jouw
your
zwaar
heavy / severe (of a punishment) / tough, hard
de koffer
the suitcase
dan
than
Questions & Answers about Mijn koffer is veel zwaarder dan jouw tas.
Why is it zwaarder and not just zwaarer?
The basic adjective is zwaar (heavy). In Dutch, when an adjective ends in an -r, we add -der instead of just -er to make it comparative. So, zwaar becomes zwaarder (heavier). This makes the word much easier to pronounce!
Can I use heel instead of veel here to say 'very heavier'?
No, just like in English, you cannot say 'very heavier'. You have to say 'much heavier', which translates to veel zwaarder. You use heel (very) only with the normal adjective, like in heel zwaar (very heavy).
Why is there a 'w' at the end of jouw?
Jouw with a 'w' is the possessive pronoun meaning 'your', used here because it is 'your bag' (jouw tas). If you drop the 'w', jou becomes the object pronoun meaning 'you', which you would use in a sentence like 'I see you' (Ik zie jou).
Do we always use dan for comparisons?
When one thing is more or less than another, yes. Because we are using a comparative adjective (zwaarder), we must use dan to mean 'than'. However, if two things are exactly equal, you would use even ... als meaning 'as ... as'.
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