Breakdown of Ik giet een derde van de melk in de pan.
ik
I
een
a/an
in
in
de melk
the milk
derde
third (3rd)
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
de pan
the pan
gieten
to pour (liquid in general)
Questions & Answers about Ik giet een derde van de melk in de pan.
Why do we use een before derde here?
Just like in English where you say "a third" or "one third", Dutch uses een (one/a) plus the ordinal number derde (third) to make a fraction.
Does this pattern work for all fractions in Dutch?
For most of them, yes! You use een + the ordinal number (e.g., een vijfde for a fifth, een achtste for an eighth). The main exceptions you are learning now are "a half", which is de helft (never een tweede), and "a quarter", which is usually een kwart.
Is gieten a regular or irregular verb?
Gieten (to pour) is a strong (irregular) verb. It's useful to memorize its past forms: the simple past is goot (singular) or goten (plural), and the past participle is gegoten.
Why does the Dutch sentence use in instead of a specific word for "into"?
Dutch often uses the simple preposition in for both location ("in the pan") and direction ("into the pan"). The movement into the pan is already made clear by the action verb gieten (to pour).
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