Word
Toen we de Pyreneeën bezochten, sneeuwde het er.
Meaning
When we visited the Pyrenees, it was snowing there.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Toen we de Pyreneeën bezochten, sneeuwde het er.
bezoeken
to visit
het
it
er
there (in that place)
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about Toen we de Pyreneeën bezochten, sneeuwde het er.
Why do we say de Pyreneeën with an article instead of just Pyreneeën?
Just like in English, mountain ranges in Dutch are treated as plural nouns and always take the plural definite article de. Other examples include de Alpen (the Alps) and de Ardennen (the Ardennes).
If de Pyreneeën were the subject of a sentence, would it take a singular or plural verb?
It would take a plural verb. Because mountain ranges are grammatically plural in Dutch, they require plural verb agreement. For example, you would say De Pyreneeën zijn prachtig (The Pyrenees are beautiful). In our sentence, however, the subject of that clause is we, which is why the verb is bezochten.
Could I use wanneer instead of toen for 'when' in this sentence?
No, you must use toen. In Dutch, toen is strictly used for a single, specific event or period in the past. Wanneer is used for questions, present or future events, or repeated past events (meaning 'whenever'). Since this was a specific past trip, toen is the only correct choice.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb sneeuwde?