Breakdown of Hij sprak met veel wijsheid over het verleden.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
veel
much / many / a lot of
met
with
over
about
spreken
to speak (a language) / to speak (give a statement / speak for someone)
het verleden
the past
de wijsheid
the wisdom
Questions & Answers about Hij sprak met veel wijsheid over het verleden.
How do we know if wijsheid is a de or het word since there is no article before it here?
Wijsheid (wisdom) is formed by adding the suffix -heid to the adjective wijs (wise). In Dutch, all nouns ending in the suffix -heid (which works exactly like the English "-ness" or "-hood") are always de words.
Why does verleden take het instead of de?
Verleden (past) was originally a past participle of a verb, which was then turned into a noun. In Dutch, when a verb form is turned into a noun like this, it always takes het. Additionally, many nouns starting with the prefix ver- (like het verhaal or het verbod) are het words.
Why doesn't veel get an -e ending here to become vele wijsheid?
We leave veel uninflected because wijsheid is being used as an uncountable noun here (translating to "much wisdom"). You only add the -e to make vele when you are talking about plural, countable things (translating to "many").
Is sprak a regular past tense form?
No, spreken (to speak) is a strong, irregular verb. Instead of adding a standard past tense ending like -te or -de, the vowel changes. The singular past tense is sprak and the plural is spraken.
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