Breakdown of Eenzamen hebben vaak een huisdier.
een
a/an
hebben
to have
vaak
often
het huisdier
the pet
eenzaam
lonely
Questions & Answers about Eenzamen hebben vaak een huisdier.
Why does the adjective eenzaam (lonely) get an -en ending here?
This is a nominalized adjective, which means an adjective being used as a noun. When an adjective is turned into a plural noun to refer to people (meaning "lonely people" here), it gets the -en ending. You could also say eenzame mensen, but eenzamen is a more concise and very common alternative.
Why did the spelling change from a double 'aa' in eenzaam to a single 'a' in Eenzamen?
This is a great time to refresh a core Dutch spelling rule! In the base word eenzaam, the 'aa' is in a closed syllable (it ends with the consonant 'm'). When you add the -en ending, the syllable breaks into an open syllable (een-za-men). A single vowel at the end of a syllable naturally makes a long sound, so we drop the extra 'a' to avoid double-spelling it.
Shouldn't there be an article like De before Eenzamen?
Not in this context. Just like in English ("Lonely people..."), Dutch leaves out the article when making a general statement about an entire group. If you said De eenzamen, it would translate to "The lonely people" and imply you were talking about a specific group of lonely people you had already mentioned.
What is the literal translation of huisdier?
It is a compound noun made up of huis (house) and dier (animal). So literally, it means "house animal", which is the standard Dutch way to say "pet".
Learn Eenzamen hebben vaak een huisdier 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