Word
De eigenaar woont op de eerste verdieping.
Meaning
The owner lives on the first floor.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De eigenaar woont op de eerste verdieping.
wonen
to live
op
on
eerste
first (1st)
de verdieping
the floor (level of a building)
Questions & Answers about De eigenaar woont op de eerste verdieping.
Why do we use op instead of in for the floor of a building?
In Dutch, you live op een verdieping (on a floor), exactly like in English where you live 'on' a floor rather than 'in' it. You are referring to the surface level you live on.
Does eerste verdieping mean the street-level floor?
No. Just like in the UK, the street-level floor is called the begane grond (ground floor). The eerste verdieping is the first floor up, which Americans would call the second floor.
How is the word eigenaar formed?
It comes from the adjective eigen, which means 'own' (as in 'my own house'). By adding the suffix -aar, it becomes a noun for the person who owns it: the owner.
Why does eerste have an -e at the end?
Because it is an ordinal number acting as an adjective to describe verdieping. Since verdieping is a de word, the adjective placed right before it gets the standard -e ending.