Breakdown of De vergrote foto heeft een lelijke achtergrond.
een
a/an
hebben
to have
de foto
the photo
lelijk
ugly
vergroten
to enlarge
de achtergrond
the background
Questions & Answers about De vergrote foto heeft een lelijke achtergrond.
Why is it spelled vergrote with one 'o' when the past participle of vergroten is vergroot with two?
As an adjective describing the de-word foto, the past participle vergroot gets an -e ending. Adding this -e splits the syllables into ver-gro-te. Because the gro syllable is now open (ends in a vowel), Dutch spelling rules dictate we drop one o to keep the same long vowel sound.
Wait, wouldn't the past tense of vergroten be spelled vergrootte with a double 'o' and double 't'? Why does the adjective lose both?
Verbs and adjectives follow different spelling rules in Dutch. Verb spelling prioritizes keeping the stem intact (hence hij vergrootte for 'he enlarged'). Adjectives, however, strictly follow syllable-based sound rules. The past participle is vergroot. When making it an adjective, we just add -e. The open syllable rule removes the extra o, and we never double a consonant just to preserve the verb stem in an adjective, leaving us with vergrote.
Why does lelijke get an -e ending here? Doesn't the article een normally prevent that?
You only leave off the -e after een if the noun is a het-word. Achtergrond is a de-word (de achtergrond), so any adjective in front of it gets an -e ending, regardless of whether you use een, de, or no article at all.
How should I pronounce the suffix -lijk in lelijke?
Even though it is spelled with the letters -ij-, the suffix -lijk is always pronounced with a schwa (a short, relaxed 'uh' sound), like 'luk'. So lelijke is pronounced roughly as 'LAY-luh-kuh'.
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