Breakdown of Hij betaalt zijn eigen boekhouder met de verdiende winst.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
met
with
betalen
to pay
zijn
his
verdienen
to earn
eigen
own
de winst
the profit
de boekhouder
the accountant
Questions & Answers about Hij betaalt zijn eigen boekhouder met de verdiende winst.
Why doesn't eigen get an -e ending here (zijn eigen boekhouder), since boekhouder is a de-word?
This is a special rule for eigen. Normally, an adjective after a possessive pronoun like zijn gets an -e ending (like zijn goede boekhouder). But eigen is an exception! When used with a possessive pronoun to mean 'own', it never takes an -e. It is always mijn eigen, zijn eigen, haar eigen, and so on.
What does adding eigen actually change about the meaning of this sentence?
While zijn boekhouder just means 'his accountant', adding eigen makes it 'his own accountant'. This is called emphatic possession. It emphasizes that the accountant belongs specifically to him, perhaps to contrast with someone else's accountant or to highlight that he is independently managing his business.
Why does verdiende end in an -e?
In this sentence, the past participle verdiend (earned) is used as an adjective to describe winst (profit). Because winst is a de-word (de winst) and it comes right after the definite article de, the adjective gets the standard -e ending.
What are the parts of the compound word boekhouder?
It is made of boek (book) and houder (holder or keeper). So a boekhouder is literally a 'bookkeeper', which is the standard Dutch word for an accountant.
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