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Er is een vrij ruime parkeerplaats achter het centrum.

Er is een vrij ruime parkeerplaats achter het centrum.
There is a fairly spacious parking lot behind the center.
From Lesson 262:Moderate degree adverbs (vrij, tamelijk, nogal, best)·Dutch

Questions & Answers about Er is een vrij ruime parkeerplaats achter het centrum.

Why does ruime get an -e at the end, but vrij doesn't?
Vrij is an adverb here, meaning "fairly" or "quite." Adverbs never change their endings. It modifies the adjective ruime, not the noun. Ruime gets an -e because it is an adjective describing a de word (parkeerplaats) after the article een.
Doesn't vrij usually mean "free"?
Yes, when used on its own as an adjective, vrij means "free." But when you place it directly in front of an adjective as an adverb of degree, it changes meaning to "fairly," "quite," or "pretty" (as in "pretty spacious").
Could I use nogal or tamelijk instead of vrij here?
Absolutely. Vrij, tamelijk, and nogal are often interchangeable to mean "fairly" or "quite." Nogal can sometimes carry a slightly stronger or more subjective tone ("rather spacious"), while vrij and tamelijk are completely neutral.
How do I know whether a long compound word like parkeerplaats takes de or het?
In Dutch compound nouns, the article is always determined by the final part of the word. Because plaats is a de word, the entire compound parkeerplaats also takes de.

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