Breakdown of Zij zouden onze snelle service waarderen.
zij
they
snel
fast
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
zullen
shall / will
waarderen
to appreciate
de service
the service
Questions & Answers about Zij zouden onze snelle service waarderen.
How do we know zij means "they" and not "she" in this sentence?
We can tell by looking at the verb zouden ("would"). Zouden is the plural form used for "we", "they", and plural "you". If zij meant "she", the verb would be the singular form zou (zij zou = "she would").
Why is the main verb waarderen at the very end of the sentence?
In Dutch, when you use an auxiliary (helper) verb like zouden, the main action verb gets pushed to the very end of the sentence in its full dictionary form (the infinitive). Here, zouden takes the second position, and waarderen goes to the end.
Why is there an -e added to make it snelle instead of just snel?
We generally add an -e to adjectives when they come right before a noun. Because the English loanword service is a de-word (de service) in Dutch, the adjective gets that -e ending. Also notice that we double the letter l in snelle to keep the first e sounding short!
Why do we use onze for "our" instead of ons?
The word for "our" changes depending on the noun's gender. Because service is a de-word, we use onze. You only use ons with singular het-words (for example, ons boek).
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