Breakdown of De premie voor die auto's is heel hoog.
zijn
to be
de auto
the car
heel
very
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
Questions & Answers about De premie voor die auto's is heel hoog.
Why is there an apostrophe in auto's?
In Dutch, nouns that end in a single open vowel (like a, i, o, u, or y) get an apostrophe plus s for their plural form. This keeps the pronunciation of the vowel long. Without the apostrophe, a word spelled like autos would look like it should be pronounced with a short 'o' sound according to Dutch spelling rules.
Why do we use die instead of dat for "those"?
The word auto is a de-word (de auto), and for all plural nouns, the definite article is always de. Because it acts as a plural de-word, we use die to mean "those" (or "these"). We only use dat ("that") for singular het-words.
Does premie mean the same thing as the English word "premium"?
Yes, in this context it means an insurance premium (the amount you pay for a policy). However, premie in Dutch can also mean a bonus, a reward, or a subsidy, which makes its usage a bit broader than how we typically use "premium" in English.
Could I use erg instead of heel to say "very high"?