Breakdown of We zagen veel kooplui, en we hebben er drie vriendelijke uitgenodigd.
en
and
hebben
to have
veel
much / many / a lot of
zien
to see
Questions & Answers about We zagen veel kooplui, en we hebben er drie vriendelijke uitgenodigd.
Why is the plural kooplui instead of koopmannen?
The singular is koopman (merchant). For several traditional professions ending in -man, the plural shifts to the collective suffix -lieden (more formal) or -lui (more informal). So, kooplui is the standard plural here.
What is the function of er in the second part of the sentence?
Here, er is quantitative, meaning 'of them'. When you specify a number or amount of something previously mentioned without repeating the noun itself (in this case, three merchants), Dutch requires you to use er.
Why does vriendelijke end in an -e when it is not followed by a noun?
When an adjective acts as a stand-in for a noun (translating to 'friendly ones'), it keeps the ending it would have if the noun were explicitly written. Because kooplui is plural, the adjective requires an -e, leaving us with vriendelijke.
Why are the words drie vriendelijke placed between hebben and uitgenodigd?