Breakdown of Laten we de boekhouding zelf doen voor onze eigen onderneming.
doen
to do
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
voor
for (on behalf of)
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
laten
to let (laten we ... = let's ...)
zelf
yourself / oneself (emphatic)
eigen
own
de onderneming
the enterprise
de boekhouding
the bookkeeping
Questions & Answers about Laten we de boekhouding zelf doen voor onze eigen onderneming.
We have both zelf and eigen in this sentence. What is the difference?
Both words relate to the concept of "self" or "own", but they have different jobs. Zelf is a pronoun meaning "ourselves" here—it shows who is personally doing the action (zelf doen = do it ourselves). Eigen is an adjective meaning "own"—it emphasizes possession (onze eigen onderneming = our own enterprise).
Why doesn't eigen get an -e at the end here (onze eigene onderneming)?
Normally, adjectives get an -e ending when they come in front of a noun and after words like de or onze. However, eigen is a common exception. It almost never takes an -e ending, regardless of the noun's gender.
Why is it onze eigen onderneming instead of ons eigen onderneming?
The word onderneming (enterprise or business) is a de-word. Whenever a noun is a de-word, the Dutch word for "our" must be onze. You only use ons for het-words (for example, if you used the word for company, it would be ons eigen bedrijf).
Why is the main verb doen pushed so far back in the sentence?
The sentence starts with Laten we (Let's). In Dutch, laten acts just like a modal verb here (like willen or kunnen). It takes the conjugated verb position near the front and pushes the main action verb (doen) to the end of that clause.
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