Breakdown of Dat is niet genoeg, voeg nog twintig gram toe.
zijn
to be
niet
not
dat
that (het-words)
twintig
twenty
Questions & Answers about Dat is niet genoeg, voeg nog twintig gram toe.
This lesson is about the quantitative er. Why isn't er used in this sentence?
We only use the quantitative er when the noun being counted is left out. If the sentence just said "add twenty more", it would be voeg er nog twintig toe. But because the thing being counted (gram) is explicitly mentioned here, we don't use er.
Why is it gram instead of the plural grammen?
In Dutch, exact units of measurement, weight, and currency usually stay in their singular form when they follow a specific number. That is why we say twintig gram instead of twintig grammen.
Why is toe at the very end of the sentence?
Toe is the prefix of the separable verb toevoegen (to add). Because this second half of the sentence is a command, the core verb sits at the front of the clause (voeg), and its prefix gets sent to the very end.
Doesn't nog usually mean 'still'? Why is it translated as 'more' here?
While nog often translates to 'still', when it is placed before a number or a quantity, it means 'more' or 'an additional'. So nog twintig gram means 'twenty more grams' or 'another twenty grams'.