Word
Je snijdt de taart aan en verdeelt hem in achtsten, of niet?
Meaning
You cut into the cake and divide it into eighths, don't you?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Je snijdt de taart aan en verdeelt hem in achtsten, of niet?
en
and
niet
not
in
in
de taart
the cake
Questions & Answers about Je snijdt de taart aan en verdeelt hem in achtsten, of niet?
How exactly is the plural fraction achtsten formed here?
It starts with the cardinal number acht (eight). To turn it into a fraction, you add the ordinal suffix -ste, giving you achtste (an eighth). Because the sentence talks about multiple pieces, it needs to be pluralized. Fractions ending in -e simply take an -n for the plural, resulting in achtsten.
Why use the separable verb aansnijden instead of just snijden?
While snijden just means to cut, aansnijden specifically means making the very first cut into a whole item, like a cake, a loaf of bread, or a roast. It implies you are cutting it to start serving it.
Why is the cake referred to as hem (him) instead of het (it)?
Because taart is a de-word. In Dutch, we typically refer back to de-words using masculine pronouns like hij (he) for subjects and hem (him) for objects, rather than the neuter pronoun het.
Is of niet the only way to translate the tag question don't you?