Questions & Answers about Zijn vriendin is hier.
I know zijn means "are". Why does it mean "his" here?
The word zijn has two completely different meanings in Dutch. It is the plural verb meaning "are" (like in wij zijn), but it is also the possessive word for "his". You can easily tell them apart from the context. Because it is placed right in front of a noun (vriendin), it is acting as a possessive word here.
Does vriendin always mean a romantic girlfriend?
It literally just means "female friend", but context matters a lot! Whenever you put a possessive word like mijn (my) or zijn (his) directly in front of vriendin (or vriend for a male), Dutch speakers will usually assume you mean a romantic partner.
If he just wanted to talk about a platonic "female friend" instead of his girlfriend, how would he say that?
To make it clear that they are just friends, you would avoid saying zijn vriendin. Instead, a Dutch speaker would usually say een vriendin van hem, which translates to "a friend of his".
How would I change this sentence to say "her girlfriend"?
You would say haar vriendin is hier. The word haar is the possessive adjective for "her", and you place it before the noun in exactly the same way as zijn!
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