Breakdown of Mijn zus springt het mooist over de horde.
de zus
the sister
mooi
beautiful
mijn
my
het
it
springen
to jump
over
over, across (spatial)
de horde
the hurdle
Questions & Answers about Mijn zus springt het mooist over de horde.
Why do we use het before mooist if we are describing an action?
When a superlative describes a verb (how an action is done), it acts as an adverb. In Dutch, adverbial superlatives always take the fixed word het, regardless of the subject's gender or number. Here, het mooist describes how she jumps.
Why isn't there an -e at the end of mooist, like in de mooiste?
When you use an adverbial superlative with het to describe a verb, the superlative word itself doesn't get an -e ending. If you were describing a noun instead, you would add the -e, as in de mooiste zus (the most beautiful sister).
Is the word horde related to the English word 'hurdle'?
Yes! It translates to 'hurdle' in sports contexts like track and field. Interestingly, just like the English word 'horde', it can also refer to a large, unruly group of people.
Could I change the word order to put het mooist at the very end of the sentence?
Not naturally. In Dutch, adverbs of manner (which describe how an action happens, like het mooist) almost always come before prepositional phrases that indicate place or direction, such as over de horde.
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