Breakdown of Je voegt anderhalf glas koud water toe.
het water
the water
koud
cold
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
toevoegen
to add
het glas
the glass
anderhalf
one and a half
Questions & Answers about Je voegt anderhalf glas koud water toe.
Why is 'one and a half' translated as the single word anderhalf?
In Dutch, 'one and a half' is uniquely expressed as the single word anderhalf. You do not say 'een en een half'. For higher numbers, you combine them into one word as well, such as tweeënhalf (two and a half) or drieënhalf (three and a half).
Why is it anderhalf glas (singular) instead of glazen (plural)?
Nouns that refer to units of measurement, like a glas, usually remain in the singular form when preceded by a number or amount in Dutch. English uses the plural 'glasses', but Dutch sticks to the singular.
Where does toe at the end of the sentence come from?
It is part of the separable verb toevoegen (to add). In a regular main clause like this one, the verb splits: the core verb voegt takes the second position in the sentence, while the prefix toe gets pushed to the very end.
Why is there no '-e' on the end of koud water?
Water is a het-word. When an adjective comes before a het-word that is indefinite (meaning it has no specific article like het or dit in front of it), the adjective does not get an -e ending. Since this is an unspecified amount of water, it stays koud.
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