Breakdown of Waar zijn de sleutels? Die liggen op de tafel.
zijn
to be
waar
where
de tafel
the table
de sleutel
the key
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
liggen
to lie
Questions & Answers about Waar zijn de sleutels? Die liggen op de tafel.
Why does the second sentence start with Die instead of Ze (they)?
In Dutch, people often use the pointing words die (those/that) or dat (that) instead of ze (they) to refer back to things you just mentioned. It sounds very natural and points directly back to the keys. You could correctly say Ze liggen op de tafel, but using Die is extremely common in everyday spoken Dutch.
Why use the verb liggen (to lie) here instead of zijn (to be)?
When describing where an object is located, Dutch prefers specific positional verbs over just saying is or are. Because keys are relatively flat and rest horizontally on a surface, they liggen (lie). If you were talking about an upright object like a vase or a glass, you would use staan (stand).
How do I know whether to make the plural of sleutel with an -s or -en?
Dutch nouns ending in an unstressed syllable like -el, -em, -en, or -er almost always take an -s to form the plural. Since sleutel ends in -el, it becomes sleutels.
Could I say op tafel without the word de?
Yes, you absolutely can! In Dutch, it is very common to drop the article and just say op tafel when referring to the main table in the room. Both op de tafel and op tafel are perfectly correct and mean the same thing in this context.
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