Breakdown of Wij kopen onze delicatessen altijd in die nieuwe speciaalzaak.
wij
we
kopen
to buy
in
in
altijd
always
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
nieuw
new
de delicatesse
the delicacy
de speciaalzaak
the specialty shop
Questions & Answers about Wij kopen onze delicatessen altijd in die nieuwe speciaalzaak.
In English, a "delicatessen" is often the shop itself. Does delicatessen mean the shop in this sentence?
No, this is a classic false friend! In Dutch, een delicatesse is a fancy food item (a delicacy), and delicatessen is strictly the plural noun (delicacies). To refer to the actual shop, you have to use a word like speciaalzaak (specialty shop) or delicatessenzaak.
Since this lesson is about using diminutives to make mass nouns countable, why isn't a diminutive used for the food here?
Because delicatesse is already a regular countable noun, not a mass noun, so it simply takes the standard plural -en. However, if you were buying an uncountable mass noun at this shop—like cheese (kaas)—you could use a diminutive to make it countable. Buying twee kaasjes (two little cheeses) transforms the uncountable generic mass of cheese into two distinct, individual portions or varieties.
Why is the adverb altijd placed after onze delicatessen?
In Dutch word order, specific direct objects (made specific here by the possessive pronoun onze) are placed before adverbs of time like altijd. If the object were non-specific—meaning you were just buying delicacies in general—the time adverb would come first: Wij kopen altijd delicatessen in die speciaalzaak.
Why does nieuwe get an -e ending in die nieuwe speciaalzaak?
Compound nouns always take the gender of their final part. Since it is de zaak (the shop/business), the compound is de speciaalzaak. When a de word is preceded by a specific demonstrative pronoun like die (that), the adjective nieuw gets the standard -e ending.
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