Breakdown of Wij gooien de rotte appel in de prullenbak.
wij
we
de appel
the apple
in
in
gooien
to roll / to throw
de prullenbak
the trash can
rot
rotten
Questions & Answers about Wij gooien de rotte appel in de prullenbak.
Why is rotte spelled with a double 't'?
The base adjective is rot (rotten). Because appel is a de-word, the adjective gets an -e ending. To keep the 'o' short (like in the English word "pot"), we must double the consonant when adding the ending. If we wrote rote, it would be pronounced with a long 'o' (like in "boat").
Could I use the separable verb weggooien (to throw away) in this sentence?
Yes, you certainly could! If you used weggooien, the sentence would become: Wij gooien de rotte appel in de prullenbak weg. However, because you are already specifying exactly where it is going (in de prullenbak), just using the base verb gooien (to throw) is perfectly natural and common.
What does prullenbak literally translate to?
It is a compound noun made up of prullen (trash, odds and ends, or worthless items) and bak (bin, tray, or container). So it literally means a "trash bin".
I often mix up prepositions. Why is it in de prullenbak and not naar de prullenbak?
You use in when the object is ending up physically inside a container or enclosed space, matching how we say "into the trash can" in English. Naar (to) is used for a general destination or direction, like walking to the bin (Ik loop naar de prullenbak), rather than putting an object inside it.
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