Breakdown of Morgen koop ik drie liter melk voor het feest.
ik
I
kopen
to buy
drie
three
morgen
tomorrow
het feest
the party
de melk
the milk
voor
for (on behalf of)
de liter
the liter
Questions & Answers about Morgen koop ik drie liter melk voor het feest.
Why is there no word for "of" in drie liter melk?
In Dutch, when you use a unit of measurement (like liter) with a substance (like melk), you put them right next to each other. You don't use a preposition like van (of). This grammatical feature is called juxtaposition.
Why isn't liter pluralized since it's "three" liters?
When a precise number comes before a standard unit of measurement, weight, or time (such as liter, kilo, meter, or uur), the unit stays singular in Dutch. That is why we say drie liter instead of drie liters.
If I wanted to say "three glasses of milk" instead of liters, would "glasses" also stay singular?
No, it would become plural: drie glazen melk. The singular rule only applies to exact, standardized units of measurement. Containers or physical objects used as measures, like a glass (glas), bottle (fles), or piece (stuk), do get pluralized. Notice, however, that you still drop the word for "of"!
Just a quick refresher: why is it koop ik instead of ik koop?
Because the sentence starts with the time indicator Morgen. Dutch uses a "verb-second" rule for main clauses, meaning the conjugated verb (koop) must stay in the second logical slot. To allow this, the subject (ik) inverts and moves right after the verb.
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