Word
Het kapotte apparaat is gelukkig repareerbaar.
Meaning
The broken appliance is fortunately repairable.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Het kapotte apparaat is gelukkig repareerbaar.
zijn
to be
het
it
kapot
broken
gelukkig
fortunately
Questions & Answers about Het kapotte apparaat is gelukkig repareerbaar.
How exactly is the word repareerbaar formed from the verb repareren?
To form an adjective expressing potentiality (meaning something 'can be' done), you add the suffix -baar to the verb stem. The stem of repareren (to repair) is repareer, so we get repareerbaar (repairable). This works just like the English suffix '-able'.
Why does repareerbaar have a double 'e' (ee) when the infinitive repareren only has a single 'e'?
This is due to standard Dutch spelling rules for open and closed syllables. In repareren, the second 'e' is at the end of an open syllable (re-pa-re-ren), so it is a long vowel written with one letter. To find the stem, we drop the -en, leaving a closed syllable. To keep that same long 'e' sound, we must double the vowel to make repareer. Then we just add -baar.
Both kapotte and repareerbaar describe het apparaat, so why does only kapotte get an extra -e at the end?
It depends on the position of the adjective. Kapotte is an attributive adjective (placed directly in front of the noun), so it gets an -e because it follows the definite article het. However, repareerbaar is a predicative adjective (it comes after the linking verb is). Predicative adjectives never get the -e ending.