Breakdown of Mijn vader en moeder zijn getrouwd.
mijn
my
de moeder
the mother
de vader
the father
getrouwd
married
Questions & Answers about Mijn vader en moeder zijn getrouwd.
Wait, doesn't zijn mean "his"?
You are right that zijn is the possessive adjective for "his"! However, zijn is also the plural form of the verb "to be" (meaning "are"). Because the subject here is plural (mijn vader en moeder), zijn is acting as the verb "are". Context usually makes it easy to tell them apart!
Do I need to say mijn vader en mijn moeder?
You can, but just like in English, it is not required. You can use mijn just once at the beginning of the list, and it will naturally apply to both vader and moeder.
Why is the verb plural (zijn) if mijn is a singular possessive?
Even though mijn (my) refers to just one owner (you), the subject of the sentence is two people: your father and your mother. Because the subject contains multiple people, you must use the plural verb zijn (are), rather than the singular verb is.
Where does the word getrouwd come from?
Getrouwd means "married". It comes from the verb trouwen (to marry). You will often see that adding ge- to the front of a verb turns it into a word describing a completed state or action, very similar to how we add "-ed" in English.