Breakdown of Deze plant heeft minder water nodig.
hebben
to have
het water
the water
nodig
needed
de plant
the plant
deze
this / these
minder
less / fewer
Questions & Answers about Deze plant heeft minder water nodig.
Where does the word minder come from?
It is the irregular comparative form of weinig (little/few). Just like English changes "little" to "less", Dutch changes weinig to minder.
Why are heeft and nodig split up in this sentence?
They form the expression nodig hebben, which means "to need". In a standard Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb (heeft) takes the second position, and nodig is pushed to the very end.
Why is it deze plant and not dit plant?
Because plant is a de-word (de plant). You always use deze (this) and die (that) with de-words. If you were pointing out the water (het water), you would say dit water because it is a het-word.
In English we say "less water" but "fewer plants". Does Dutch have a separate word for "fewer"?
No, Dutch keeps it simple! You can use minder for both uncountable nouns like water (less water) and countable nouns like planten (fewer plants).
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