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
drie
three
uitnodigen
to invite
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
er
of them (with a number or quantity)
vriendelijk
friendly
de koopman
the merchant
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?
This is the standard Dutch sentence bracket. The conjugated auxiliary verb hebben takes the second position in the clause, while the past participle uitgenodigd goes to the very end. Any objects or details, like er drie vriendelijke, get sandwiched in between.
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