Breakdown of Tijdens een stormachtige nacht kun je slecht slapen.
een
a/an
slapen
to sleep
slecht
bad
kunnen
can
de nacht
the night
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
tijdens
during
stormachtig
stormy
Questions & Answers about Tijdens een stormachtige nacht kun je slecht slapen.
How does the suffix -achtig work in stormachtige, and what does it mean?
The suffix -achtig means "like" or "characterized by." Attaching it to the noun storm creates the adjective stormachtig (storm-like or stormy). At this level, you will see -achtig added to many nouns and adjectives to express similarity, such as kinderachtig (childish) or roodachtig (reddish).
Why does stormachtige get an -e at the end, even though it comes after the word een?
An adjective only drops the -e ending when it comes after een AND modifies a het-word. Because nacht is a de-word (de nacht), the adjective must keep its -e ending, making it stormachtige.
Why is the verb placed before the subject (kun je), and why is there no -t at the end of kun?
Because the sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Tijdens een stormachtige nacht, the verb must take the second position (the verb-second rule). This forces the subject je to move right after the verb. Remember that when jij or je directly follows the verb, the verb drops its -t ending, resulting in kun je instead of kunt je.
Is the word je referring to the person reading the sentence, or is it a general statement?
Here, je acts as an impersonal pronoun, much like the generic "you" or "one" in English (as in "one sleeps poorly"). It is a very natural way in Dutch to state a general truth that applies to people in general, rather than addressing the listener directly.
Learn Tijdens een stormachtige nacht kun je slecht slapen and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free