Breakdown of Vraag je of dat levensgevaarlijke dier echt een vleermuis is?
zijn
to be
een
a/an
het dier
animal
dat
that (het-words)
vragen
to ask
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
echt
real; really (genuinely)
of
if / whether
de vleermuis
bat
levensgevaarlijk
life-threatening
Questions & Answers about Vraag je of dat levensgevaarlijke dier echt een vleermuis is?
Why does the adjective levensgevaarlijke get an -e ending when dier is a het word?
For het words, the adjective drops the -e only when the noun is indefinite (preceded by een, geen, or nothing). Because dat acts as a definite article (like het), the adjective takes the standard -e ending.
Could I use Vraag je je af instead of Vraag je here?
That would change the meaning. Vragen means "to ask" (directing a question to someone else). Zich afvragen means "to wonder" (asking yourself). The translation specifies "Are you asking", so we use the non-reflexive vragen.
How do we know of means "whether" here instead of "or"?
When of functions as "or", it typically joins two equal grammatical parts. Here, of introduces a subordinate clause, which you can tell because it pushes the verb is to the very end of the sentence. In this structure, it always translates to "whether" or "if".
What is the literal breakdown of the word levensgevaarlijke?
It is a compound made of leven (life) and gevaarlijk (dangerous), glued together with a linking -s-. Dutch frequently uses this -s- (called a "tussen-s") to bind nouns to adjectives or other nouns to create strong compound words.
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