Breakdown of Het meisje is briljant, vooral in wiskunde.
zijn
to be
het meisje
the girl
in
in
vooral
especially
briljant
brilliant
de wiskunde
the mathematics
Questions & Answers about Het meisje is briljant, vooral in wiskunde.
How exactly is vooral used here, and how can I remember it?
Vooral means 'especially' or 'mainly.' As a focus adverb, you place it right before the part of the sentence you want to emphasize—in this case, in wiskunde (in mathematics). A great way to remember it is to look at its parts: voor (before) + al (all). So it literally translates to 'before all' or 'above all else'!
Could I use speciaal instead of vooral to say 'especially'?
No, they are used differently in Dutch. Use vooral when you mean 'mostly', 'mainly', or 'in particular', just like in this sentence. You should only use speciaal when you mean something is done 'specially' or 'specifically' for a certain purpose, like baking a cake specially for a friend.
Is there a trick to remembering the word wiskunde for mathematics?
Yes! Dutch often creates words by combining older concepts. Wiskunde is made of wis (from an old word for 'certain' or 'sure') and kunde (meaning knowledge, skill, or science). So mathematics in Dutch is literally the 'science of certainty'.
As a quick refresher, why is it het meisje instead of de meisje?
Meisje is a diminutive (a 'little' word, ending in -je). In Dutch, all diminutives take the neuter article het, regardless of the natural gender of the person or thing they refer to. So even though a girl is female, grammatically het meisje is a neuter noun.
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