Breakdown of De bron van de informatie is niet officieel.
zijn
to be
niet
not
de informatie
the information
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
de bron
the source
officieel
official / officially
Questions & Answers about De bron van de informatie is niet officieel.
This lesson is about volgens (according to). How would I say 'According to the official source'?
You would say volgens de officiële bron. Notice that when the adjective moves in front of the noun, it gets an -e ending. Because of the vowels, it also needs a trema (the two dots) to show where the new syllable starts: officiële.
Why doesn't officieel get an -e ending in this exact sentence?
Because it comes after the noun it describes, linked by the verb is. When an adjective is in this position (a predicative adjective), it stays in its basic form and never gets an -e ending.
The Dutch spelling officieel is slightly different from the English 'official'. Is there a pattern?
Yes! Many English adjectives ending in '-ial' end in -ieel in Dutch. For example, 'commercial' becomes commercieel and 'financial' becomes financieel. Also, note that the Dutch word has a double f but only a single l.
Could I use the prefix on- instead of saying niet?
Yes, you can. Just like 'not official' and 'unofficial' in English, you can say is niet officieel or is onofficieel. Both are perfectly natural and mean exactly the same thing.
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