Word
Hij is nog niet beter en voelt zich erg grieperig.
Meaning
He is not yet better and feels very flu-like.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hij is nog niet beter en voelt zich erg grieperig.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
en
and
niet
not
Questions & Answers about Hij is nog niet beter en voelt zich erg grieperig.
How does the suffix -erig change the noun griep here?
The noun griep means "flu". Adding the suffix -erig creates an adjective that indicates a mild state or resemblance. So grieperig means feeling "flu-like" or a bit under the weather, rather than having a severe, confirmed case of the flu.
Why do we need the word zich after voelt?
In Dutch, expressing how you feel internally requires the reflexive verb zich voelen. Because the subject is Hij (He), the correct reflexive pronoun is zich. If you dropped it and just said voelt, it would sound like he is physically touching an object.
Why is the subject Hij not repeated in the second part of the sentence?
Because both parts of the sentence share the same subject (Hij) and are connected by the coordinating conjunction en (and), you can drop the subject in the second clause. This is called subject ellipsis and works exactly the same way as it does in English.
Does beter just mean "better" or does it imply something specific about his health?
While beter is the standard comparative form of goed (good), when talking about illness, beter zijn specifically means "to be recovered" or "to be well again". Saying he is nog niet beter means he hasn't fully recovered from his illness yet.