Breakdown of Wat een boze tijger! Hij heeft de prooi gevangen.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
hebben
to have
boos
angry
vangen
to catch
wat een
what a
de tijger
the tiger
de prooi
the prey
Questions & Answers about Wat een boze tijger! Hij heeft de prooi gevangen.
Why do we use 'wat een' here instead of just 'wat'?
Because tijger is a singular, countable noun. Just like in English ('what a...'), Dutch uses wat een before singular countable nouns in exclamations. If it were plural (tijgers) or uncountable, you would just use wat.
Why does the adjective 'boos' change to 'boze'?
First, tijger is a de-word, so the adjective gets an -e ending, even after een. Second, adding that -e triggers two spelling rules: the double vowel oo drops to a single o to keep the sound long in an open syllable, and the s changes to a z. So, boos becomes boze.
Why does the second sentence use 'Hij' (He) to refer to the tiger instead of a word for 'It'?
In Dutch, you must use hij (he) or zij (she) to refer back to de-words. Because tijger is a de-word (de tijger), we use hij. You only use het (it) to refer back to het-words.
Why does the past participle 'gevangen' end in '-en' instead of '-t' or '-d'?
Vangen (to catch) is a strong (irregular) verb. Unlike regular verbs that form their past participle with a -t or -d at the end, many strong verbs keep the -en ending for their past participle form.
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