De leeuw loopt snel.

In Dutch, every noun takes either de or het as its definite article.

Leeuw is a de-word, so you say de leeuw.

A few useful points:

• de is used for most singular nouns
• het is used for all diminutives and for a smaller group of singular nouns
• all plural nouns take de

So this is something you usually have to learn together with the noun: de leeuw.

De is the Dutch definite article, equivalent to English the.

So de leeuw means the lion.

Unlike English, Dutch has two forms of the:

• de
• het

Which one you use depends on the noun.

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

The verb is lopen (to walk / to run, depending on context). In the present tense:

• ik loop = I walk
• jij loopt = you walk
• hij/zij/het loopt = he/she/it walks
• de leeuw loopt = the lion walks

So loopt is the correct present-tense form for a singular subject like de leeuw.

The base form is lopen.

That is the infinitive, the form you would find in a dictionary.

From lopen, you get:

• stem: loop
• third person singular present: loopt

So:

• lopen = infinitive
• loop = stem / I walk
• loopt = walks

Because snel is functioning as an adverb here, and Dutch often places adverbs after the verb in a simple main clause like this.

So the structure is:

• De leeuw = subject
• loopt = verb
• snel = adverb

This word order is very normal in Dutch: Subject + verb + adverb

For example:

• De man praat zacht.
• Het kind eet langzaam.

So De leeuw loopt snel has a very ordinary Dutch sentence structure.

It can correspond to either, depending on how it is used.

In this sentence, snel is an adverb, so in English you would often translate it as quickly.

One important difference from English is that Dutch usually does not change the form between adjective and adverb:

• een snelle leeuw = a fast lion
• De leeuw loopt snel = the lion walks quickly / fast

So Dutch uses snel in both roles.

Because it is being used as an adverb, not as an adjective directly modifying a noun.

Compare:

• de snelle leeuw → here snelle describes the noun leeuw, so it gets an -e
• De leeuw loopt snel → here snel describes the verb loopt, so it stays snel

That is a very common Dutch pattern.

Leeuw can be tricky for English speakers.

A rough guide:

• lee sounds somewhat like English lay, but with a pure Dutch ee
• uw is a difficult Dutch ending, something like a rounded glide after the vowel

A very rough approximation is something like lay-oo said smoothly as one syllable, but that is only approximate.

What often helps is to think of it in parts:

• lee-
• then a rounded ending -uw

It is a word worth listening to from native audio, because the ending is hard to capture in English spelling.

Loopt is pronounced roughly like lope-t, but the final t is clearly pronounced.

A few points:

• oo in Dutch is a long vowel, somewhat like the vowel in English hope, though not exactly the same
• the p is pronounced
• the final t is also pronounced

So don’t drop the ending: loopt is not just loop.

In a basic main clause, often yes: subject + finite verb + rest.

So De leeuw loopt snel is a very typical Dutch statement.

But Dutch word order changes in some other sentence types, especially:

• yes/no questions
  
  • Loopt de leeuw snel?
• subordinate clauses
  
  • Ik weet dat de leeuw snel loopt.

So this sentence shows the normal main-clause pattern, but Dutch word order is more flexible than English in other contexts.

Yes. That means The lion walks very quickly or very fast.

Here:

• snel = quickly / fast
• heel snel = very quickly / very fast

This is a very common way to strengthen an adverb in Dutch.

Yes. Dutch lopen is broader than English walk.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• to walk
• to go on foot
• sometimes simply to move along

So in some contexts, loopt snel could sound like walks quickly, while in others it may feel closer to moves fast. The exact natural English translation depends on the context, even though the Dutch sentence itself is straightforward.

Then both the noun and the verb form would change.

For example:

• de leeuwen lopen snel

Changes:

• leeuw → leeuwen = lions
• loopt → lopen = walk

So:

• singular: De leeuw loopt snel
• plural: De leeuwen lopen snel

Notice that plural nouns take de, so de leeuwen is correct.