Breakdown of We hebben iemands toestemming nodig.
hebben
to have
nodig
needed
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
iemands
someone's
Questions & Answers about We hebben iemands toestemming nodig.
How is iemands formed? Is it exactly like "someone's" in English?
Yes, it functions very similarly to English. You take the indefinite pronoun iemand (someone) and add an -s to make it possessive. However, unlike English, you do not use an apostrophe in Dutch: it is simply written as one word, iemands.
If I wanted to say "nobody's permission", how would I change this sentence?
You would replace iemands with niemands. The sentence would become We hebben niemands toestemming nodig (We need nobody's permission).
Why is the verb "need" translated as two words: hebben and nodig?
In Dutch, the verb "to need" is typically expressed with the phrase nodig hebben (literally: to have necessary). Hebben is the actual verb that gets conjugated to match we, while nodig gets pushed to the end of the clause.
Do I need to know if toestemming is a de or het word when using iemands?