Breakdown of De dakloze slaapt in de winter buiten.
in
in
slapen
to sleep
buiten
outside
de winter
the winter
dakloos
homeless
Questions & Answers about De dakloze slaapt in de winter buiten.
Why is the word dakloze used here instead of just dakloos?
In Dutch, you can turn an adjective like dakloos (homeless) into a noun that refers to a person by adding an -e. So de dakloze means "the homeless person". This is called a nominalized adjective.
Why does the spelling change from dakloos to dakloze, dropping an o and changing the s to a z?
When you add the -e, the word gets an extra syllable. To keep the long "o" sound in an open syllable, we drop one o. Also, when an s ends up between two vowels, it typically changes to a z for easier pronunciation.
If I want to talk about multiple homeless people, how do I make de dakloze plural?
When a nominalized adjective refers to people in the plural, you add an -n to the end. "The homeless people" would simply be de daklozen.
Why does in de winter come before buiten?
Dutch word order strongly prefers putting expressions of Time before expressions of Place. Since in de winter tells us when, and buiten tells us where, the time phrase must come first.
Learn De dakloze slaapt in de winter buiten 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