De zekeraar helpt de klimmer.

to help

Breakdown of De zekeraar helpt de klimmer.

• de zekeraar: the belayer
• de klimmer: the climber

Questions & Answers about De zekeraar helpt de klimmer.

Why is de used twice in De zekeraar helpt de klimmer?

Because both zekeraar and klimmer are singular common-gender nouns, and the definite article for those nouns is de.

So:

• de zekeraar = the belayer / the person securing
• de klimmer = the climber

In Dutch, de is used for:

• singular common-gender nouns
• all plural nouns

The other main definite article is het, which is used for singular neuter nouns.

How do I know who is helping whom?

In this sentence, Dutch uses normal subject–verb–object word order, just like English:

• De zekeraar = subject
• helpt = verb
• de klimmer = object

So the sentence means:

• The belayer helps the climber

If you reverse the nouns, you reverse the meaning:

• De klimmer helpt de zekeraar. = The climber helps the belayer.

Because both noun phrases use de, the main clue here is word order.

Why is the verb helpt and not helpen?