Breakdown of Wij schenken de tante het dure parfum.
wij
we
duur
expensive
de tante
the aunt
schenken
to gift / to give (to donate, to pour)
Questions & Answers about Wij schenken de tante het dure parfum.
Why doesn't this sentence use the preposition aan before de tante?
In Dutch, you often have a choice! Here, we used the strict word order method: if you leave out the preposition aan, the indirect object (de tante) must come directly before the definite direct object (het dure parfum).
If I wanted to use aan de tante, how would the word order change?
The sentence would become: Wij schenken het dure parfum aan de tante. When you use a preposition like aan, the direct object comes first, and the indirect object phrase moves after it.
Why is it dure with an -e if parfum is a het-word? I thought het-words didn't get the -e ending.
Adjectives before het-words actually do get the -e ending if they are preceded by a definite article like het, dit, or dat. They only drop the -e when preceded by an indefinite word like een or nothing at all (for example: een duur parfum).
What is the difference between schenken and geven here?