Breakdown of Hij leest veel, maar zij leest meer.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
zij
she
maar
but
veel
much / many / a lot of
lezen
to read
meer
more
Questions & Answers about Hij leest veel, maar zij leest meer.
Why does the word veel change to meer in the second half of the sentence?
meer is the comparative form of veel. Just like in English where "much" or "a lot" becomes "more", Dutch uses a completely different word for the comparison. This is one of the important irregular comparisons you just have to memorize!
I'm used to saying "a lot" in English. Do I ever need to add een before veel?
No, you never say een veel. In Dutch, just the word veel on its own means "a lot" or "much". Adding een would sound like "a much", which doesn't work in either language!
Is it wrong to use the unstressed pronoun ze instead of zij here?
Technically ze is grammatically okay, but zij sounds much better here. Because the sentence is directly comparing what he does versus what she does, using the stressed pronouns (hij and zij) emphasizes that contrast.
Why does the word order stay exactly the same (Subject-Verb) after maar?
The word maar (but) just acts like a bridge between two independent sentences. It doesn't push the verb to the end or flip the subject and verb around, so you get normal Subject-Verb order in both halves: Hij leest and zij leest.
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