Breakdown of Van wie zijn deze standbeelden van de oude goden?
zijn
to be
oud
old
wie
who
deze
this / these
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
het standbeeld
the statue
de god
the god
Questions & Answers about Van wie zijn deze standbeelden van de oude goden?
Why is the plural of god spelled goden and not godden?
The singular noun god has a short 'o' sound. This is one of the irregular nouns that shifts from a short vowel in the singular to a long vowel in the plural. To show that long 'o' sound in an open syllable, we use one 'o' and one 'd' (goden). If it were a regular noun, we would have doubled the 'd' (godden) to keep the 'o' short.
How do you say "whose" in Dutch? Why is it Van wie here?
Dutch does not have a single, everyday question word for "whose". Instead, you use the phrase van wie, which literally means "of whom" or "from whom". So "Whose are these statues?" translates as Van wie zijn deze standbeelden?.
Since standbeelden is a compound word, does the plural ending just go on the final part?
Yes! When making a compound noun plural, you only look at the final word. The word beeld (image) becomes beelden, so standbeeld (statue) becomes standbeelden. Because beeld already has a long vowel (the double 'e'), it takes the standard -en ending without any irregular vowel shifts.
Why does oude get an -e at the end, and does it change the pronunciation?
Adjectives generally get an -e ending when they come before a plural noun, so oud becomes oude goden. This spelling change also changes the pronunciation: the 'd' at the end of the singular word oud sounds like a 't', but when it moves to the middle of oude, it is pronounced as a real 'd' sound.
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