De negende les begint.

The ninth lesson begins.

Breakdown of De negende les begint.

• beginnen: to start
• de les: the lesson
• negende: ninth

Questions & Answers about De negende les begint.

Why is it de negende les and not het negende les?

Because les is a de-word in Dutch.

In Dutch, singular nouns take either de or het:

• de les = the lesson
• plural: de lessen = the lessons

Since les is a de-word, the article must be de.

Also, when a de-word has an adjective or ordinal before it, that word usually gets -e:

• de negende les

Why does negende end in -e?

Because it is an ordinal number used before a noun.

In Dutch, ordinals often behave like adjectives when they come before a noun, so they usually take an -e ending:

• de eerste les = the first lesson
• de tweede les = the second lesson
• de negende les = the ninth lesson

So here:

• negen = nine
• negende = ninth

The -e is there because it is directly describing les.

How do you form negende from negen?