Breakdown of Wij zijn in de smalste straat aan het wandelen.
zijn
to be
wij
we
in
in
wandelen
to walk (for pleasure)
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
de straat
the street
smal
narrow
Questions & Answers about Wij zijn in de smalste straat aan het wandelen.
Why does the superlative smalste have an -e at the end?
In Dutch, when an adjective comes before a noun with a definite article like de or het, it usually gets an -e at the end. The base adjective is smal (narrow), the superlative is smalst (narrowest), and adding the -e gives us de smalste straat.
Would it be het smalste if the noun was a het word?
Yes! For example, if we were talking about the narrowest path (het pad), it would be het smalste pad. Both de and het words get the -e ending on the superlative when it comes right before the noun.
Why are the words aan het wandelen all the way at the end of the sentence?
This is because of Dutch word order. When using the zijn aan het construction to show an ongoing action, the phrase aan het plus the infinitive verb (wandelen) gets pushed to the end of the sentence, after the location information (in de smalste straat).
Could I just say Wij wandelen in de smalste straat instead?
Yes, you can! The simple present tense Wij wandelen can mean both 'We walk' and 'We are walking'. However, using Wij zijn ... aan het wandelen strongly emphasizes that the action is happening right at this very moment.
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