Breakdown of De man legt het notitieboekje naast zich.
de man
the man
naast
next to
zich
oneself
leggen
to lay / to put down (flat)
het notitieboekje
the notebook (for notes)
Questions & Answers about De man legt het notitieboekje naast zich.
Why does this sentence use zich instead of hem to mean him?
When a preposition of location (like naast) refers back to the subject of the sentence (De man), Dutch requires the reflexive pronoun zich. If you used hem, it would mean the man put the notebook next to a completely different person!
Why do we use legt for puts here? Could I use zet instead?
Dutch requires you to specify the orientation of the object being placed. You use leggen (to lay) for objects that lie flat on a surface, like a notebook. You would use zetten (to set/stand) if the object were placed in a vertical or upright position, like a vase or a mug.
Is it possible to change the word order to De man legt naast zich het notitieboekje?
No, that would sound unnatural. In Dutch main clauses, a specific direct object (het notitieboekje) almost always comes before the prepositional phrase indicating the location (naast zich).
What determines that notitieboekje gets the article het?
Two rules guarantee this. First, the core word is boek, which is an het word, and compound nouns always take the article of their final part. Second, it is a diminutive ending in -je, and all diminutives in Dutch take het regardless of the base word.
Learn De man legt het notitieboekje naast zich and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free