Hij leest het negende hoofdstuk.

Hij is the subject pronoun meaning he. In this sentence, he is the person doing the action of reading, so Dutch uses hij.

• Hij = he (subject form)
• Hem = him (object form)

So:

• Hij leest ... = He reads ...
• Ik zie hem. = I see him.

Because leest is the present tense form of lezen used with hij.

The verb lezen means to read. In the present tense:

• ik lees = I read
• jij leest = you read
• hij leest = he reads
• wij lezen = we read

So with hij, the verb normally gets -t.

The basic form is lezen, which is the infinitive.

So:

• lezen = to read
• leest = reads / is reading

This is very common in Dutch: the form you see in a sentence is often a conjugated form, while the dictionary form is the infinitive.

Het is the definite article here, meaning the.

Dutch nouns have two main articles:

• de
• het

The noun hoofdstuk is a het-word, so you say:

• het hoofdstuk = the chapter

Because of that, the whole noun phrase becomes:

• het negende hoofdstuk = the ninth chapter

Unfortunately, in Dutch this usually has to be learned with the noun. You learn:

• het hoofdstuk
• plural: de hoofdstukken

A few patterns can help, but they are not perfect. For example, many diminutives and many words for languages are het-words, but for a word like hoofdstuk, the safest approach is simply to memorize it with its article.

A good habit is to learn nouns as a pair:

• het hoofdstuk
• de tafel
• het boek

Because negende is an ordinal number used before a noun, and in this position it normally takes -e.

So:

• negen = nine
• negende = ninth

Before a noun, Dutch ordinals usually appear with that -e ending:

• het negende hoofdstuk = the ninth chapter
• de eerste dag = the first day
• de derde keer = the third time

So negende is the normal form here.

It comes from the number negen meaning nine.

Dutch forms many ordinal numbers with -de or -ste:

• een → eerste = first
• twee → tweede = second
• drie → derde = third
• vier → vierde = fourth
• negen → negende = ninth

So negende is simply the ordinal form of negen.

This is the normal word order for a main clause in Dutch:

subject + finite verb + rest

So here:

• Hij = subject
• leest = finite verb
• het negende hoofdstuk = object

That gives:

• Hij leest het negende hoofdstuk.

This matches basic English word order quite closely: He reads the ninth chapter.

Yes. Dutch simple present often covers both:

• He reads
• He is reading

So Hij leest het negende hoofdstuk can mean either, depending on context.

If the context is happening right now, it may naturally be understood as:

• He is reading the ninth chapter

If it is about habit or general action, it may mean:

• He reads the ninth chapter

Context decides.

Dutch usually does not need a special progressive form the way English often does. The simple present is very flexible.

So Dutch often says:

• Hij leest.

where English might say either:

• He reads
• He is reading

Dutch does have ways to emphasize an ongoing action, such as aan het + infinitive:

• Hij is het negende hoofdstuk aan het lezen.

But that is more explicit and not always necessary.

Yes, that is also very natural Dutch.

There is a small difference in style:

• het negende hoofdstuk = the ninth chapter
• hoofdstuk negen = chapter nine

Both are correct, and both are common.

Often, hoofdstuk negen sounds a bit like labeling or numbering, while het negende hoofdstuk sounds a bit more like an ordinal description. In many contexts, they mean practically the same thing.

Because the sentence refers to one chapter: the ninth chapter.

The singular form is:

• het hoofdstuk

The plural is:

• de hoofdstukken = the chapters

So if you were talking about more than one, you would need a different form, for example:

• Hij leest de hoofdstukken. = He reads the chapters.

Leest is pronounced with a long ee sound, roughly like the vowel in English late, but without the strong English glide at the end.

A rough guide:

• leest ≈ layst (but with a purer vowel)

Also:

• the s is just s
• the final t is pronounced

So don’t pronounce it like English least. The Dutch vowel is different.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• hoofdstuk ≈ HOHF-stukh

A few important points:

• hoofd has a long oo sound
• the d in hoofd is usually not strongly heard before s
• stuk has the Dutch u, which is not exactly like English u
• the final k is clearly pronounced

The stress is on the first part:

• HOOFD-stuk

No. English has only one definite article, the, but Dutch has two:

• de
• het

So English the can be either de or het, depending on the noun.

Examples:

• de tafel = the table
• het boek = the book
• het hoofdstuk = the chapter

That is why learning the article together with the noun is so important in Dutch.