Word
Mijn zicht is veel scherper als ik mijn bril opzet.
Meaning
My vision is much clearer if I put on my glasses.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Mijn zicht is veel scherper als ik mijn bril opzet.
ik
I
zijn
to be
veel
much / many / a lot of
mijn
my
Questions & Answers about Mijn zicht is veel scherper als ik mijn bril opzet.
Why do we use veel scherper here, and could I say een stuk scherper instead?
Yes, you can! veel means "much" or "a lot," and placing it right before a comparative adjective like scherper intensifies it. You can absolutely swap it for een stuk (a lot / a great deal). Saying Mijn zicht is een stuk scherper is perfectly natural and means exactly the same thing.
The translation says "clearer", but doesn't scherp mean "sharp"?
Exactly. scherp literally means "sharp." In Dutch, when talking about vision, lenses, or photos being in focus, we say they are scherp rather than "clear." If you used the direct Dutch translation for clear (helder), it would sound like you are talking about the weather or a clean window.
Why does the Dutch sentence use mijn bril (singular) when English uses "my glasses" (plural)?
In Dutch, a pair of glasses is treated as one single object, so de bril is singular. If you translated it literally from English and said mijn brillen, a Dutch person would picture you putting multiple pairs of glasses on your face at the same time!
Why is opzet written as a single word at the very end of the sentence?