Breakdown of Mijn broer zag de muis niet in de donkere kamer.
niet
not
de broer
the brother
zien
to see
in
in
Questions & Answers about Mijn broer zag de muis niet in de donkere kamer.
Is zag the past tense of zien? How does it change for plural subjects?
Yes! zag is the irregular simple past of zien (to see) for singular subjects like ik, jij, or mijn broer. If the subject were plural, you would use zagen (for example, wij zagen de muis).
Why does the English translation say "didn't see" while the Dutch sentence literally says "saw ... not"?
Dutch does not use a translation for "did" to make negatives. You just use the past tense verb, which is zag (saw), and combine it with niet (not) later in the sentence.
Why is niet placed right after de muis?
When you are negating a sentence that has a specific direct object—in this case, de muis (the mouse)—the word niet must come immediately after that specific object.
Why is it donkere instead of just donker?
This is because kamer is a de-word (de kamer). When you put an adjective right in front of a de-word, the adjective usually gets an extra -e at the end. So donker becomes donkere.