Breakdown of Na het diner drinken we vaak een zoet likeurtje.
een
a/an
drinken
to drink
vaak
often
zoet
sweet
Questions & Answers about Na het diner drinken we vaak een zoet likeurtje.
How does the diminutive likeurtje change the meaning compared to just using likeur?
Likeur is normally an uncountable mass noun referring to the liquid in general. By adding the diminutive to make it likeurtje, it becomes a countable noun meaning "a single serving" or "a glass of liqueur". This is a common trick in Dutch to turn uncountable liquids into countable portions (similar to een biertje or een wijntje).
Why doesn't the adjective zoet have an -e at the end here?
All diminutives in Dutch are het words. When an adjective comes before a singular het word that is preceded by the indefinite article een, the adjective drops the -e ending. If you used the non-diminutive de likeur, the adjective would keep its ending: een zoete likeur.
Why is the word order drinken we instead of we drinken?
The sentence starts with the prepositional time phrase Na het diner. In Dutch main clauses, the conjugated verb must always take the second position (the V2 rule). Because the first position is occupied by the phrase, the verb drinken comes second, causing the subject we to invert and immediately follow the verb.
Why is the diminutive suffix -tje used on likeur instead of just -je?