Breakdown of Jullie hebben een grote stellingkast in de garage staan.
een
a/an
groot
big
jullie
you (plural)
hebben
to have
in
in
staan
to stand
de garage
the garage
de stellingkast
the shelving unit
Questions & Answers about Jullie hebben een grote stellingkast in de garage staan.
What exactly does the hebben ... staan construction express here?
This structure (hebben + direct object + location + posture verb) is a possessive locative state. It neatly combines two pieces of information: that you own the shelving unit (hebben), and its physical orientation and location (in de garage staan). This sounds much more natural in Dutch than saying "You have a shelving unit and it is in the garage."
Why do we use staan for a shelving unit instead of another posture verb like liggen?
You use staan because a stellingkast (shelving unit) is typically an upright piece of furniture resting on its base. Dutch is very precise with posture verbs. You would only use liggen if the shelving unit had been knocked over or was lying flat, unassembled in a box.
Why does staan go at the very end of the sentence?
Because hebben and staan form a verb cluster here. In a main clause, the conjugated verb (hebben) takes the second position, while the other verb is pushed to the end as a bare infinitive. The object (een grote stellingkast) and the location (in de garage) are sandwiched in between.
Why is the adjective spelled grote instead of groot?
Because stellingkast is a de-word. The gender of a compound noun is always determined by its final noun, which is de kast. When an adjective comes before a de-word, it always gets an -e ending, even when following the indefinite article een.
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