Breakdown of Hij heeft geen kleingeld bij zich.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
bij
at / near / by
zich
oneself
het kleingeld
loose change
Questions & Answers about Hij heeft geen kleingeld bij zich.
Why does the sentence use bij zich instead of bij hem?
In Dutch, when a preposition of place (like bij, achter, or onder) refers back to the subject of the sentence, you must use the reflexive pronoun. Since the subject here is hij, we use zich. If we used bij hem, it would mean he has no change on a completely different male person.
How does bij zich hebben differ from just using hebben?
Can I use muntgeld instead of kleingeld here?
Yes, muntgeld (coinage) is a great synonym. However, kleingeld is slightly broader and can sometimes include low-value banknotes, whereas muntgeld strictly refers to metal coins. Both work perfectly for translating 'loose change'.
As a quick refresher, why do we use geen instead of niet in this sentence?
We use geen because kleingeld is an indefinite, uncountable noun. Just like in English where you say he has 'no loose change' rather than 'not loose change', Dutch requires geen to negate a noun that lacks de, het, or a possessive word in front of it.
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