Word
Europa heeft veel bekende rivieren.
Meaning
Europe has many famous rivers.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Europa heeft veel bekende rivieren.
hebben
to have
veel
much / many / a lot of
de rivier
the river
bekend
well-known
Questions & Answers about Europa heeft veel bekende rivieren.
Why is there no article before Europa?
In Dutch, continents (like Europa and Azië), most countries, and cities are used without an article. This is just like in English. Definite articles are generally only used if the geographic name is plural, like de Filipijnen, or contains words like Republic or Kingdom.
Does Europa always take a singular verb like heeft?
Yes. Geographical proper nouns that are singular in form, such as continents and most countries, always take a singular verb. You will only use a plural verb for geographically plural names, such as mountain ranges like de Alpen or plural countries like de Verenigde Staten.
Why does the adjective bekend get an -e ending here (bekende)?
Because rivieren is a plural noun. In Dutch, adjectives modifying a plural noun almost always get an -e ending, regardless of whether the singular noun is a de-word or a het-word. The presence of the quantifier veel does not change this rule.
I sometimes see vele instead of veel. Why is it veel bekende rivieren here?