Breakdown of Wij kennen elkaars innige verlangens.
wij
we
kennen
to know
elkaars
each other's
innig
intimate
Questions & Answers about Wij kennen elkaars innige verlangens.
How does the possessive work in elkaars? Why is there no apostrophe?
To say "each other's", you simply add an s to elkaar, creating elkaars. Unlike English, Dutch only uses an apostrophe-s for possession if the word ends in a single open vowel (like oma's) to preserve the long vowel sound. Since elkaar ends in a consonant, it just gets an attached s.
Why do we use kennen here instead of weten for "know"?
In Dutch, kennen is used when you are familiar with a noun, such as a person, place, or concept. Since "intimate longings" (innige verlangens) is a noun phrase, we must use kennen. You would use weten to express knowledge of a fact, which usually requires a sub-clause (e.g., Wij weten wat je verlangt - We know what you long for).
Verlangen is a verb. How does it become the plural noun verlangens here?
You can turn many Dutch infinitives into neuter nouns (e.g., het verlangen - the longing or desire). While these verb-nouns often stay singular when talking about the abstract act of doing something, they take a plural -s when referring to specific, countable instances. Therefore, verlangens translates directly to "longings" or "desires".
Can we turn the adjective innig (intimate) into a noun using the -de suffix from this lesson?