Breakdown of Hij wil iets moois kopen, maar het is te duur.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
maar
but
kopen
to buy
willen
to want
duur
expensive
mooi
beautiful
te
too
het
it
iets
something
Questions & Answers about Hij wil iets moois kopen, maar het is te duur.
Why is there an 's' at the end of moois?
After indefinite words like iets (something), niets (nothing), wat (something/some), or veel (much), you must add an -s to the adjective. That is why mooi (beautiful) becomes iets moois (something beautiful) here.
Why is the verb kopen placed at the very end of the first clause?
This is because of the verb wil (wants). When you use a helping or modal verb in a Dutch sentence, the main verb (kopen) is pushed all the way to the end of that clause.
Why do we use the pronoun het in the second half of the sentence?
The pronoun het (it) refers back to iets moois. In Dutch, indefinite concepts like iets (something) are treated as neuter, so we must use the neuter pronoun het instead of hij (he) or zij (she).
Why doesn't the word order change after the word maar?
The word maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction. This type of word simply links two independent sentences together without changing their word order. Because of this, het is te duur keeps the standard subject-verb order.
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