Breakdown of De brug is van steen en het huis is van hout.
zijn
to be
en
and
het huis
the house
de brug
the bridge
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
het hout
the wood
de steen
the stone
Questions & Answers about De brug is van steen en het huis is van hout.
This lesson is about material adjectives like stenen and houten. Why aren't they used in this sentence?
In Dutch, material adjectives ending in -en can only be used directly in front of the noun they describe (like de stenen brug or het houten huis). When the description comes after the verb, you cannot use the -en adjective. Instead, you must use van + the noun for the material.
So I can never say De brug is stenen or Het huis is houten?
Exactly. Saying De brug is stenen is grammatically incorrect in Dutch. If the material is stated after the verb, you must always use the structure with van (made of) instead of the material adjective.
What does van literally mean here?
The preposition van generally means "of" or "from". Saying a bridge is van steen literally means it is "of stone", which is the standard Dutch way of saying it is "made of stone".
Does steen mean natural stone, or does it include brick?
It means both! While steen is the general word for "stone", Dutch houses are mostly built with bricks, which are called bakstenen (baked stones) or just stenen. So depending on the context, a house van steen is usually a brick house.
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