Breakdown of Eet mijn zus d'r kat de hond z'n voer?
de hond
the dog
de kat
the cat
de zus
the sister
eten
to eat
mijn
my
z'n
his / its / one's (unstressed)
d'r
her (unstressed)
het voer
the animal food
Questions & Answers about Eet mijn zus d'r kat de hond z'n voer?
Why does the sentence use d'r after mijn zus instead of haar?
The word d'r is the unstressed, colloquial version of the possessive pronoun haar. In spoken Dutch, it is very common to show possession by naming the owner followed by an unstressed pronoun. So mijn zus d'r kat literally means my sister her cat, which translates to my sister's cat.
Why is z'n used for de hond, and does this mean dog is grammatically masculine?
Yes, de hond is grammatically masculine, so it takes the masculine unstressed pronoun z'n, which is short for zijn. Interestingly, in informal spoken Dutch, native speakers often use z'n for almost any de-word when building this specific possessive structure, even if the word is officially feminine.
With kat and de hond right next to each other, how can I tell which animal is doing the eating?
In Dutch yes/no questions, the subject always comes immediately after the conjugated verb. Because the entire phrase mijn zus d'r kat directly follows the verb Eet, it has to be the subject. The second noun phrase, de hond z'n voer, acts as the direct object that receives the action.
Is it acceptable to use this structure in formal writing or tests?
No, this noun plus unstressed possessive structure is strictly informal and used mainly in speech. In formal written Dutch, you should use the preposition van. A formal version of this exact sentence would be Eet de kat van mijn zus het voer van de hond?
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