Word
De splinternieuwe koffer was helaas peperduur.
Meaning
The brand-new suitcase was unfortunately exorbitantly expensive.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De splinternieuwe koffer was helaas peperduur.
zijn
to be
de koffer
the suitcase
helaas
unfortunately
peperduur
exorbitantly expensive
Questions & Answers about De splinternieuwe koffer was helaas peperduur.
What do the elative compounds splinternieuwe and peperduur literally mean?
Elative compounds intensify an adjective by attaching a noun to the front of it. Splinternieuw literally means "splinter-new" (comparable to "brand-new" in English). Peperduur literally means "pepper-expensive", referencing historical times when spices like pepper were incredibly costly.
Why does splinternieuwe get an -e ending, but peperduur does not?
These compounds follow standard adjective rules. Splinternieuwe comes directly before the noun (attributive use) and gets an -e because koffer is a de-word. Peperduur comes after the verb was (predicative use) to describe the subject, so it takes no ending.
Can I use peper- or splinter- in front of other adjectives to intensify them?
No, elative compounds in Dutch are generally fixed combinations. While they might look like mix-and-match prefixes, splinter- is only used with nieuw, and peper- is only used with duur. You have to memorize them as set vocabulary words rather than grammar rules.
Why does the adverb helaas come right after the verb was?