Breakdown of Het meisje kon de duif niet voeren.
het meisje
the girl
niet
not
kunnen
can
de duif
the pigeon
voeren
to feed (animals)
Questions & Answers about Het meisje kon de duif niet voeren.
Why do we say Het meisje and not De meisje?
Even though a girl is a female person, the word meisje is a diminutive (a "little" word, recognized by the -je ending). In Dutch, all diminutives are neuter words and therefore always take the definite article het.
What verb is kon from, and why is the other verb at the end?
Kon is the simple past tense of the modal verb kunnen (can / to be able to), meaning "could". Because it is a modal verb, it takes the normal verb position in the sentence but pushes the main action verb (voeren) to the very end as a full infinitive.
Why is niet placed right before voeren here?
In Dutch, the negative word niet generally likes to go towards the end of the sentence. When you have an infinitive verb pushed to the very end (like voeren), niet is placed directly in front of it to negate that specific action.
Is there a difference between voeren and voeden?
Yes! Both translate to "to feed" in English, but voeren is specifically used for feeding animals (like a pigeon). For feeding people, such as a baby, you would use voeden.
Since this lesson is about posture verbs, could we change this sentence to use one?
Absolutely! If you wanted to describe the continuous action of her feeding the pigeon while standing, you could say Het meisje stond de duif te voeren. The current sentence uses the modal verb kon to express ability (she could not do it), which uses a plain infinitive. Posture verbs require the word te before the infinitive.
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