Breakdown of Jouw bureau is bezet, maar het mijne is vrij.
zijn
to be
maar
but
mijn
my
jouw
your
vrij
free / off (work)
het bureau
desk
bezet
occupied
Questions & Answers about Jouw bureau is bezet, maar het mijne is vrij.
Why is it het mijne instead of de mijne?
When you use an independent possessive pronoun (like "mine" or "yours"), you have to look at the noun it replaces. Because it replaces het bureau (the desk), which is a het-word, we use het mijne. If it replaced a de-word like de stoel (the chair), it would be de mijne.
Why is there no -e at the end of jouw, but there is one at the end of mijne?
Jouw is placed directly in front of the noun it describes (jouw bureau), so it usually doesn't get an extra -e. However, mijne stands completely on its own to mean "mine". When a possessive pronoun stands alone like this, it always gets an -e at the end.
Does vrij mean "free" as in "costs zero money"?
Not in this sentence! Here, vrij means "free" in the sense of "available" or "unoccupied". If you want to say that something is completely free of charge, you should use the word gratis.
Why does the verb is stay in the normal position after maar?
The word maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction. This means it just links two normal sentences together without changing the word order in the second sentence. The subject (het mijne) comes first in the new clause, and the verb (is) stays in the normal second position.
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