Breakdown of De weg naar de grot lijkt eindeloos.
naar
to
de weg
the road
de grot
the cave
lijken
to seem
eindeloos
endless
Questions & Answers about De weg naar de grot lijkt eindeloos.
Why is the word eindeloos and not eindloos, since the word for "end" is eind?
While both eind and einde are correct nouns for "end" in Dutch, the fixed derivation for "endless" uses the two-syllable root einde. You simply attach the suffix -loos (meaning "-less" or "without") to it, creating eindeloos.
If I wanted to say "the endless road", how would the spelling of eindeloos change?
It would become de eindeloze weg. When you place the adjective directly in front of a noun, it often gets an -e ending. Because -loos ends in a long vowel sound followed by an s, adding the -e causes the double o to drop to a single o (to keep the vowel long in an open syllable), and the s voices into a z.
Why doesn't eindeloos get an -e ending in this specific sentence?
Because it is being used as a predicative adjective. It comes after a linking verb (lijkt) to describe the subject (De weg) rather than sitting directly in front of a noun. In Dutch, predicative adjectives never take the -e inflection.
Could I use schijnt instead of lijkt here to mean "seems"?
Not really. Lijken is the best choice here because it refers to a direct, sensory impression—the road physically looks or feels endless to the person traveling it. Schijnen is usually used for things that are reported, rumored, or deduced, similar to "it is said that" or "it appears to be the case that".
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