Breakdown of Ligt de republiek Frankrijk op het continent Europa?
op
on
liggen
to lie
Europa
Europe
de republiek
the republic
Questions & Answers about Ligt de republiek Frankrijk op het continent Europa?
Why isn't there a word for "of" in de republiek Frankrijk and het continent Europa?
In English, we usually connect a geographical category and its name with "of" (like "the continent of Europe"). In Dutch, you place the generic category and the proper name right next to each other without van (of). So you just say het continent Europa and de republiek Frankrijk.
In English we translate this as "the French Republic". Can I say de Franse republiek in Dutch?
Yes, you can say de Franse republiek, which uses the adjective just like in English. However, using the noun apposition de republiek Frankrijk (literally: the republic France) is also very common in Dutch and perfectly illustrates how Dutch combines categories and names.
Why does the sentence use ligt instead of is for "is located"?
When talking about the fixed geographical location of a country, city, or continent, Dutch strongly prefers the position verb liggen (to lie) over zijn (to be). So asking where France "lies" is the standard way to ask where it is located.
Why are republiek and continent written in lowercase letters here?
In Dutch, general category words like republiek, continent, stad (city), or provincie (province) are written in lowercase. They do not get capitalized just because they sit next to a capitalized proper name like Frankrijk or Europa.