Breakdown of Zijn gezin woont in de stad.
de stad
the city
wonen
to live
zijn
his
het gezin
the family (parents and children)
Questions & Answers about Zijn gezin woont in de stad.
Wait, doesn't zijn mean "are"? Why is it translated as "his" here?
Zijn is a word with two completely different meanings. It is the verb "to be" (as in "wij zijn" - "we are"), but it is also the possessive word for "his". You can tell it means "his" here because it sits directly in front of the noun gezin to show whose family it is.
Why use gezin instead of familie for "family"?
In Dutch, gezin specifically means the nuclear family: just the parents and children living together in one household. The word familie is used for your extended family, which includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Why does gezin take the singular verb woont instead of the plural wonen?
Even though a family contains multiple people, the word gezin is a singular noun (one family). Just like in American English, collective nouns take singular verbs. So you add a "t" to the stem and use the singular form woont (lives).
Will Dutch speakers always pronounce zijn fully?
Not usually! While it is written as zijn, Dutch speakers very often shorten it in casual speech to z'n, which sounds a bit like "zun". You will hear this shortened version a lot in daily life.
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