Breakdown of Er zijn veel kinderen met chronisch slaaptekort.
zijn
to be
het kind
the child
veel
much / many / a lot of
met
with
er
there (existential)
chronisch
chronic
het slaaptekort
the sleep deprivation
Questions & Answers about Er zijn veel kinderen met chronisch slaaptekort.
Why is it chronisch here and not chronische?
Slaaptekort is a neuter noun (it takes het). Because it is used here indefinitely and without any article to describe a general concept, the adjective before it drops the -e ending.
How do we know the gender of a compound noun like slaaptekort?
In Dutch compound nouns, the very last word always determines the gender. Because it is het tekort (the deficit or shortage), the entire compound slaaptekort is also a het word.
If I wanted to apply this lesson's grammar and say 'One in three children has chronic sleep deprivation,' how would I change this sentence?
You would use the proportional pattern één op de. The sentence would become: Eén op de drie kinderen heeft chronisch slaaptekort. Keep in mind that the verb becomes singular (heeft) because the grammatical subject is the number one (één).
Why does the sentence start with Er zijn?
Er acts as a placeholder subject here, exactly like 'There' in the English phrase 'There are'. In Dutch, you use er when introducing an unspecified or indefinite subject (like the general group veel kinderen) into a sentence.
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