Word
Ik heb zulke tedere tranen in haar ogen gezien.
Meaning
I have seen such tender tears in her eyes.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Ik heb zulke tedere tranen in haar ogen gezien.
The current lesson is about making nouns from adjectives with the suffix -de, like liefde. Can we do that with teder to mean 'tenderness'?
No. While lief becomes liefde and koud becomes koude, the adjective teder (tender) takes a different suffix to become a noun: tederheid. The -de suffix only applies to a specific, closed group of adjectives that you generally have to memorize.
Why does the sentence use zulke here instead of zo'n?
We use zulke because tranen (tears) is a plural noun. Zo'n is a contraction of zo een (such a), so it can only be used with singular, countable nouns. If you were talking about just one tear, you would say zo'n tedere traan.
Why is the adjective tedere spelled with a single 'e' in the first syllable even though it has a long vowel sound?
The base word is teder. When you add the grammatical -e ending to match the plural noun tranen, the word breaks into syllables as te-de-re. Because the first syllable ends in a vowel, making it an open syllable, Dutch spelling rules dictate that the long 'e' sound is spelled with just one letter. The second and third 'e's are pronounced as a short 'uh' sound, known as a schwa.
Is there a specific reason the past participle gezien is placed at the very end of the sentence instead of right after the object?