Breakdown of De Nederlander neemt de fiets.
de fiets
the bicycle
nemen
to take (general, abstract, e.g., transport, medicine)
de Nederlander
the Dutch person
Questions & Answers about De Nederlander neemt de fiets.
How would I ask "Which bicycle does the Dutch person take?" using this lesson's grammar?
Because fiets is a de word (de fiets), you use welke to ask "which". If it were a het word, you would use welk. The full question would be: Welke fiets neemt de Nederlander?
Why is Nederlander capitalized here?
In Dutch, nouns for nationalities, countries, and languages always start with a capital letter. That is why de Nederlander (the Dutch person), Nederland (the Netherlands), and Nederlands (the Dutch language) are all capitalized.
The verb is neemt, but what is the dictionary form?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is nemen (to take). To make the form for a "he", "she", or "it" (like de Nederlander), we take the stem neem and add a -t. Notice that the stem gets a double e to keep the long vowel sound from the infinitive!
Does Dutch have a different word for "bike" versus "bicycle"?
Not in everyday use. De fiets is the standard word for both "bike" and "bicycle". You might occasionally see the formal word rijwiel on official signs, but in conversation, people almost always say fiets.
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