Breakdown of Een energiezuinig huis heeft vaak een gunstige prijs.
een
a/an
het huis
the house
hebben
to have
vaak
often
de prijs
the price
gunstig
favorable
energiezuinig
energy-efficient
Questions & Answers about Een energiezuinig huis heeft vaak een gunstige prijs.
Why doesn't energiezuinig get an -e at the end, but gunstige does?
This is a classic rule for adjective endings that is always good to review. Huis is a het-word. When a het-word follows the indefinite article een (a/an), its adjective does not get an -e. However, prijs is a de-word. Adjectives before de-words almost always get the -e ending, even after een.
Since this lesson is about correlative proportion, how would I use this vocabulary to say "The more energy-efficient the house, the more favorable the price"?
You would use the comparative forms of the adjectives with the lesson's target grammar: Hoe energiezuiniger het huis, des te gunstiger de prijs. Just like in English, it is very common to drop the verbs in this specific structure.
How exactly does the word energiezuinig translate to "energy-efficient"?
It is a compound of energie (energy) and zuinig (frugal, economical, or thrifty). In Dutch, zuinig is frequently used to describe efficiency and not wasting resources. You will also see it in contexts like a zuinige auto (economical car).
Could I place vaak at the end of the sentence instead: "Een energiezuinig huis heeft een gunstige prijs vaak"?
No, that would sound unnatural in Dutch. Adverbs of time and frequency like vaak (often) usually appear as early as possible in the middle of the sentence. Here, it sits directly after the conjugated verb (heeft) and before the direct object (een gunstige prijs).
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