Breakdown of Er is niets geks aan dit cadeau.
zijn
to be
dit
this (neuter)
het cadeau
the gift
aan
on / at (attached to, edge)
er
there (existential)
niets
nothing
gek
crazy
Questions & Answers about Er is niets geks aan dit cadeau.
Why does the word geks have an -s at the end?
In Dutch, when you use an adjective after words like iets (something), niets (nothing), wat (some/something), or veel (much), you must add an -s to the adjective. So, niets plus the adjective gek (crazy) becomes niets geks (nothing crazy).
Why do we start the sentence with Er is?
Er is means "there is". Just like in English, Dutch uses this to state that something exists or doesn't exist. It sounds much more natural to say Er is niets geks (There is nothing crazy) than trying to start the sentence with the word niets directly.
Why is aan used here to mean "about"?
Prepositions rarely translate perfectly word-for-word between English and Dutch. While over is often used for "about" (like talking about a topic), when you want to say there is something "weird about" or "wrong with" an object or person, Dutch uses the preposition aan.
Why is it dit cadeau and not deze cadeau?
Cadeau is a het-word (het cadeau). When pointing out a specific het-word, you must use dit (this) or dat (that). If it were a de-word, you would use deze (this) or die (that).
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