De koe eet.

The cow is eating.

Breakdown of De koe eet.

• eten: to eat
• de koe: the cow

Questions & Answers about De koe eet.

Why is it de koe and not het koe?

In Dutch, every noun has a grammatical gender category that determines its article. Koe is a de-word, so you say de koe.

There is no simple rule that lets you predict the article for every noun, so it often has to be learned together with the noun:

• de koe = the cow
• het paard = the horse

A useful habit is to memorize nouns with their article from the start.

Why does eet end in -t?

Because the subject is de koe, which is third person singular: he/she/it.

The verb here is eten (to eat). In the present tense, Dutch often works like this:

• ik eet = I eat
• jij eet = you eat
• hij/zij/het eet = he/she/it eats

Since de koe is singular and behaves like it/she, the correct form is eet.

Is De koe eet. in the present tense?