Breakdown of Ik wil deze wijn niet drinken, want hij is te zuur.
ik
I
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
niet
not
drinken
to drink
willen
to want
te
too
deze
this / these
want
because
de wijn
the wine
zuur
sour
Questions & Answers about Ik wil deze wijn niet drinken, want hij is te zuur.
The current lesson is about comparatives. How would I change zuur to mean more sour?
When a Dutch adjective ends in an r, you add -der instead of just -er to make it comparative. So zuur becomes zuurder.
Why does the sentence use hij (he) to refer to the wine?
In Dutch, de words like de wijn are often referred to using hij (he). If the noun were a het word, you would use het (it) instead.
Does the word want (because) change the word order here?
No, want is a conjunction that keeps the normal word order with the verb right after the subject (hij is). If you used omdat (which also means because), the verb would jump to the end: omdat hij te zuur is.
Why does niet go right before drinken?
When you have a helper verb like wil and an action verb at the end like drinken, the word niet usually sits right before the action verb to show you do not want to do that specific action.
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