Breakdown of Die tiener was altijd erg nieuwsgierig.
zijn
to be
altijd
always
erg
very / really
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
Questions & Answers about Die tiener was altijd erg nieuwsgierig.
Why do we use was here, and what would the plural be?
was is the simple past tense of the verb zijn (to be) for singular subjects like ik, jij, and hij/zij/het. Since the subject here is Die tiener (That teenager - singular), we use was. If the subject were plural, like die tieners (those teenagers), we would use the plural past tense form waren.
Why does the sentence start with Die and not Dat for 'That'?
Die is used for 'that' when the noun is a de word. Because 'teenager' is de tiener, we say die tiener. If we were talking about an het word, like het meisje (the girl), we would use dat: dat meisje.
I thought erg meant 'bad' or 'terrible'. Why does it mean 'very' here?
You are right that as an adjective, erg means 'bad' or 'terrible' (for example, een erge fout means 'a terrible mistake'). However, when it is placed directly before another adjective like nieuwsgierig, it becomes an adverb meaning 'very'. In this context, it means the exact same thing as heel.
Is there a trick to remembering the long word nieuwsgierig?