Breakdown of De collega gebruikt de nietmachine, maar het is niet de hare.
zijn
to be
niet
not
maar
but
haar
her
de collega
the colleague
het
it
gebruiken
to use
de nietmachine
stapler
Questions & Answers about De collega gebruikt de nietmachine, maar het is niet de hare.
Why is it de hare and not het hare?
The article before an independent possessive pronoun must match the gender of the noun it replaces. Because it replaces de nietmachine, which is a de word, we use de hare (hers). If it replaced a het word, like het boek, it would be het hare.
How do we know the colleague is female?
The noun collega can refer to either a man or a woman. We only know this specific colleague is female because the sentence uses hare (hers). If the colleague were male, the sentence would end with de zijne (his).
If nietmachine is a de word, why does the second half of the sentence say het is instead of hij is?
When identifying what something is or who owns it using the verb zijn (to be), Dutch often uses het as a generic "it" or "this", regardless of the object's actual gender. Because of this rule, het is niet de hare is the most natural way to say "it is not hers".
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