Breakdown of Er waren veel mooie posters in de kamer.
zijn
to be
veel
much / many / a lot of
in
in
de kamer
the room
mooi
beautiful
er
there (existential)
de poster
the poster
Questions & Answers about Er waren veel mooie posters in de kamer.
Why does the sentence use "waren" instead of "hadden"?
Waren means "were" (the past tense plural of zijn, to be). While this lesson focuses on hadden (had), waren is its counterpart for "to be". We use waren here because the English translation is "There were", not "There had".
Why is it "Er waren" instead of "Daar waren" for "There were"?
When expressing existence like "There is", "There are", or "There were", Dutch always uses er. You only use daar when pointing out a specific physical location, like saying "over there".
Why does "mooie" get an -e ending, but "veel" does not?
Mooi (beautiful) gets an -e added to it because it is an adjective placed right before the plural noun posters. Veel (many) is an exception to this rule and normally does not get an -e when it comes before a noun.
Why is the plural of "poster" just "posters" and not "posteren"?
While many Dutch words get an -en ending in the plural, words ending in unstressed syllables (like -er) and many English loanwords just take an -s. Since poster fits both rules, it simply becomes posters.
Learn Er waren veel mooie posters in de kamer and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free