Breakdown of Er staat een sofaatje in de woonkamer.
een
a/an
in
in
staan
to stand
er
there (existential)
de woonkamer
the living room
de sofa
the sofa
Questions & Answers about Er staat een sofaatje in de woonkamer.
Why is there a double 'a' in sofaatje?
The root word is sofa, which ends in a long 'a' sound. If we simply added -tje to make sofatje, the 'a' would sound short. To keep the original long 'a' sound in the diminutive form, we must double the vowel, making it sofaatje.
Why does the sentence use staat instead of is?
When describing where things are located, Dutch prefers posture verbs over zijn (to be). Because a sofa has legs and rests upright on the floor, we use staan (to stand). It literally translates to 'There stands a little sofa in the living room.'
Could I just start the sentence with Een sofaatje?
It would sound very unnatural. In Dutch, you generally don't start a sentence with an indefinite subject (a noun with een). Instead, you use the dummy subject er (there) at the beginning, just like we say 'There is a sofa' in English instead of 'A sofa is in the living room'.
Learn Er staat een sofaatje in de woonkamer and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free