Breakdown of Het blijft regenen, dus de aarde is heel nat.
zijn
to be
heel
very
het
it
blijven
to stay
regenen
to rain
dus
so, therefore
de aarde
the soil
nat
wet
Questions & Answers about Het blijft regenen, dus de aarde is heel nat.
Why do we use blijft here, and how does it work with regenen?
The verb blijven usually means 'to stay', but when you combine it directly with another verb in its full dictionary form (the infinitive, like regenen), it means 'to keep doing' that action. So Het blijft regenen means 'It keeps raining' or 'It continues to rain'.
Do I need to use the word te (to) between blijft and regenen?
No, you do not use te with blijven. Just like the helper verbs kunnen (can) and moeten (must), blijven connects directly to the infinitive of the next verb without needing te in between.
I thought aarde meant 'Earth' like the planet. Can it also mean 'soil'?
Yes! De aarde can mean the planet Earth, but it is also the standard word for dirt, soil, or the ground you plant things in. Context usually makes it clear, just like the word 'earth' in English.
Why does the word order stay normal after dus? Don't joining words usually push the verb to the end?
The word dus (so) is a coordinating conjunction, which behaves just like en (and) or maar (but). These specific words connect two main sentences without changing the word order. Because of this, the second part uses the normal order: the subject (de aarde) followed immediately by the verb (is).
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