Breakdown of Deze kleur is mooi, maar dat model is donkerder.
zijn
to be
maar
but
mooi
beautiful
deze
this / these
dat
that (het-words)
de kleur
the color
donker
dark
het model
the model
Questions & Answers about Deze kleur is mooi, maar dat model is donkerder.
Why is the word for "darker" donkerder and not just donkerer?
The base adjective is donker (dark). In Dutch, when you want to make a comparison and the base adjective ends in the letter 'r', you add -der instead of the usual -er. Saying donkerder is much easier to pronounce than trying to say "donkerer"!
Why do we use deze for color, but dat for model?
This is because of the gender of the nouns. Kleur (color) is a de-word, so we use deze for "this" (and die for "that"). Model, on the other hand, is a het-word, so we must use dat for "that" (and dit for "this").
Why don't mooi and donkerder get an -e at the end?
Adjectives usually only get an -e added when they are placed directly in front of a noun (like de mooie kleur). In this sentence, the adjectives come after the verb is, so they keep their basic, uninflected form. This rule applies to both normal adjectives and comparative adjectives like donkerder.
Why does the word order stay normal after maar? Don't joining words sometimes push the verb to the end?
You are thinking of joining words like omdat (because) or als (if), which do push the verb to the end. However, maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction. It acts like a bridge that simply glues two normal sentences together without changing the word order in either of them.
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