Word
Moeders verrassing zit in die blauwe envelop.
Meaning
Mother's surprise is in that blue envelope.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Moeders verrassing zit in die blauwe envelop.
in
in
de moeder
the mother
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
blauw
blue
Questions & Answers about Moeders verrassing zit in die blauwe envelop.
Why does Moeders have an -s at the end? Is this the same -s we add to adjectives after words like iets or niets?
No, the -s here is not the partitive -s from this lesson (like in iets leuks). Instead, it shows possession, just like the English "'s" in "Mother's". In Dutch, we usually add this possessive -s directly to the noun without an apostrophe (moeders, vaders, Davids). We only use an apostrophe if adding the -s directly would change the pronunciation of the vowel (like oma's or Anna's).
The translation says "is in", but the Dutch sentence uses zit in. Can I just say is in?
You will sometimes hear is, but Dutch strongly prefers positional verbs (like zitten, liggen, and staan) to describe how something is located. We use zitten (literally "to sit") whenever something is enclosed, wrapped up, or contained inside something else—like a surprise sitting inside an envelope!
Why does the adjective get an -e here (blauwe envelop) instead of just blauw?