Breakdown of De schoenen staan onder het bed.
het bed
the bed
de schoen
the shoe
staan
to stand
onder
under, below
Questions & Answers about De schoenen staan onder het bed.
Why does the sentence use staan (stand) instead of just saying the shoes "are" under the bed?
In Dutch, it is much more common to use positional verbs like staan (to stand), liggen (to lie), or zitten (to sit) to describe where objects are located, rather than just using the verb zijn (to be). Because shoes usually rest upright on their flat soles, Dutch speakers say they "stand" (staan).
Does the preposition onder work exactly like "under" in English?
Yes! Just like in and op, onder is a basic preposition of place. It translates directly to "under" or "beneath" and is placed right before the noun phrase (het bed), exactly as it is in English.
Why is the article het used for bed, while de is used for schoenen?
Bed is a singular neuter noun (a "het-word"), so it takes het. However, schoenen is plural. In Dutch, all plural nouns take the article de, no matter what article they use in their singular form.
How is the plural word schoenen formed?
The singular word is schoen (shoe). To make it plural, you just add -en to the end. This is the most common way to form plural nouns in Dutch.
Learn De schoenen staan onder het bed and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free