Breakdown of We verzamelen al het voedsel in dozen.
in
in
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
de doos
the box
verzamelen
to gather
al
all (the)
het voedsel
the food
Questions & Answers about We verzamelen al het voedsel in dozen.
Why do we use al het here instead of alle?
We use al het because we are talking about a specific, definite amount of food ("all the food"). You use al het for singular het-words, and al de for de-words or specific plurals. If you used alle voedsel, it would mean "all food" in a general, abstract sense across the whole world, which doesn't fit the context of packing a specific batch of food into boxes.
How do I know whether to use al het or al de for this specific food?
It depends on the gender of the noun. Voedsel is a neuter noun (a het-word), so it takes het. Therefore, "all the food" becomes al het voedsel. If you were talking about a de-word, like rijst (rice), you would use al de rijst.
Is voedsel plural here, or is it an uncountable noun?
Just like in English, voedsel (food) is an uncountable singular noun. You cannot have "one food" or "two foods" in Dutch. Because it is an uncountable singular noun, it pairs perfectly with al het to mean "the entire amount of food".
Why does the singular word doos (box) change to dozen instead of doossen?
This is a good reminder of Dutch spelling rules! When a noun ending in -s becomes plural, the s often changes to a z if it moves to the middle of the word. Also, the double oo becomes a single o to keep the vowel sound long in the new open syllable (do-zen).
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