Word
Hij rekent hoeveel volwassenen slapeloos zijn.
Meaning
He calculates how many adults are sleepless.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hij rekent hoeveel volwassenen slapeloos zijn.
de volwassene
the adult
rekenen
to calculate / to do arithmetic
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Questions & Answers about Hij rekent hoeveel volwassenen slapeloos zijn.
Why is the verb rekent used here instead of berekent or rekent uit?
While berekenen (to calculate or compute) or uitrekenen (to figure out) are often more natural for calculating a specific outcome, the basic verb rekenen can be used generally for doing the math. In everyday speech, you might more commonly hear Hij rekent uit hoeveel... or Hij berekent hoeveel... for this specific action.
Why do the words slapeloos zijn come at the end of the sentence?
The phrase starting with hoeveel (how many) forms an indirect question, which acts as a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, the verbs are pushed to the very end. That is why the verb zijn comes after the adjective slapeloos.
How does the spelling change when slaap becomes slapeloos?
The Dutch suffix -loos works exactly like the English suffix -less (meaning without). When adding it to slaap (sleep), the word becomes a multi-syllable word divided as sla-pe-loos. Because the first syllable is now open (ends in a single vowel), Dutch spelling rules dictate we drop one a to keep the long vowel sound without double-writing it.
Since we are learning about ratios like één op de drie (one in three), how would we state the result of his calculation?