Breakdown of Ik praat met ze terwijl ik de appel schil.
ik
I
de appel
the apple
met
with
praten
to talk
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
terwijl
while
schillen
to peel
Questions & Answers about Ik praat met ze terwijl ik de appel schil.
Why does schil go at the very end of the sentence?
Terwijl (while) is a subordinating conjunction. This means it introduces a dependent clause, which pushes the conjugated verb to the very end. So, instead of saying ik schil de appel (I peel the apple), the order changes to terwijl ik de appel schil (while I the apple peel).
Wait, doesn't ze mean 'she' or 'they'? Why is it translated as 'them' here?
You are right that ze means 'she' or 'they' as a subject! But ze is also the unstressed object pronoun for 'them'. You could use the stressed form hen here, but in everyday spoken Dutch, ze is the most common way to say 'them' after a preposition like met.
The English translation is 'I talk' and 'I peel'. Can this also mean 'I am talking' and 'I am peeling'?
Yes, Dutch often uses the simple present (ik praat, ik schil) even when English uses the continuous form ('I am talking', 'I am peeling'). If you really want to emphasize that you are in the middle of the action, you could use the aan het + infinitive structure, but the simple present is much more common and perfectly natural here.
Does schil mean both 'peel' as a verb and 'peel' as a noun?
Exactly! Ik schil is the first-person singular of the verb schillen (to peel). But de schil is also the noun for the peel or skin of a fruit. In this sentence, because it comes right after the object de appel and at the end of the terwijl clause, we know it is acting as the verb.
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