Breakdown of De natuur is al eeuwen een belangrijke bron van inspiratie.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
belangrijk
important
al
already
Questions & Answers about De natuur is al eeuwen een belangrijke bron van inspiratie.
I notice inspiratie doesn't have an article here, but if it did, would it be a de or het word?
It would be a de word. Nouns ending in the suffix -tie (like inspiratie, informatie, and situatie) are always de words. This is a very reliable rule for nouns borrowed from Latin or French!
Is there a trick to remembering that natuur is a de word?
Yes! Many abstract nouns ending in the suffix -uur are de words. You will see this same pattern in other common words like cultuur (culture), structuur (structure), and temperatuur (temperature).
Why does the Dutch sentence use is (is) when the English translation says 'has been'?
When an action or state started in the past and is still continuing right now, Dutch uses the present tense combined with a time indicator like al (already). English uses the present perfect ('has been'). So, is al eeuwen literally means 'is already for centuries', which we naturally translate as 'has been for centuries'.
Why does belangrijke get an -e at the end even though it follows the word een?