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Het park is openbaar.

Het park is openbaar.
The park is public.
From Lesson 52:There is / there are (er is, er zijn)·Dutch

Breakdown of Het park is openbaar.

het park
the park
openbaar
public

Questions & Answers about Het park is openbaar.

Since this lesson is about 'er is' (there is), why don't we use it in this sentence?
We use er is or er zijn when introducing an unspecified subject, like een park (a park). For example, Er is een park means 'There is a park'. However, in our sentence, the subject is specific: het park (the park). Because we are talking about a specific, known park, we don't use er.
What does the ending '-baar' mean in openbaar?
The suffix -baar in Dutch is very similar to '-able' or '-ible' in English. It usually means that something is capable of happening. The word openbaar translates to 'public', keeping the idea of being open and accessible to everyone.
I know this means 'public', but how do I say 'public transport' using this word?
You will hear this exact adjective all the time in the phrase openbaar vervoer, which means 'public transport'. It is so common in the Netherlands and Flanders that Dutch speakers usually abbreviate it to just het OV.
Why is it het park instead of de park?
In Dutch, singular nouns are either de words or het words. The word park is a neuter noun, so it always takes het. There isn't a strict rule for why, so it is best to memorize the article and the noun together as het park.

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