Breakdown of Er lopen mensen buiten, maar ik hoor geen stappen.
ik
I
maar
but
geen
no / not any
lopen
to walk
buiten
outside
de mens
the human / the person
horen
to hear
er
there (existential)
de stap
the footstep / the step
Questions & Answers about Er lopen mensen buiten, maar ik hoor geen stappen.
Why do we use Er at the start of this sentence?
Er acts as a "dummy subject" here, similar to "There" in the English phrase "There are". We use it because the real subject, mensen (people), is indefinite (it doesn't have "the" or "these" in front of it). When introducing an indefinite subject into a scene, Dutch typically puts er at the start of the sentence.
Why doesn't the sentence say "Er zijn mensen lopen" (There are people walking)?
Why is the subject mensen placed after the verb lopen?
In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb is always in the second position. Because er takes the first position as the dummy subject, the verb lopen takes the second position. This pushes the real subject (mensen) into the third position, right after the verb.
Why do we use geen instead of niet to say "I hear no footsteps"?
You use geen to negate a noun that is indefinite (a noun without de or het). Since stappen (footsteps) is an indefinite plural noun, you must use geen. It translates perfectly to "no" in the English phrase "I hear no footsteps".
Does the word maar (but) change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No. Maar is a coordinating conjunction, which means it simply glues two independent sentences together without messing with their internal structure. The second part, ik hoor geen stappen, keeps the normal order: Subject (ik) plus Verb (hoor) plus Object (geen stappen).
Learn Er lopen mensen buiten, maar ik hoor geen stappen and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free