De mooie stoel staat in het oude huis.

The beautiful chair is in the old house.

Breakdown of De mooie stoel staat in het oude huis.

• in: in
• het huis: the house
• mooi: beautiful
• oud: old
• de stoel: the chair
• staan: to stand

Questions & Answers about De mooie stoel staat in het oude huis.

Why does the adjective mooie have an -e ending instead of just mooi?

In Dutch, when an adjective comes before a de-word (like stoel) and is used with the definite article (de), it takes an -e ending. So you get de mooie stoel instead of de mooi stoel.

Why is staat used instead of is?

Dutch often uses staan for objects that are positioned in an upright way (for example, chairs or lamps on the floor). Although one could say is (like "De mooie stoel is in het oude huis"), using staat is more natural in everyday Dutch to describe the location and position of the chair.

Why is it het oude huis and not het oud huis?

Even though huis is a het-word, when you have the definite article het plus an adjective (oud) in front of the noun (huis), you add an -e ending to the adjective. That’s why it becomes het oude huis.

How do I know which nouns use de and which use het?

There are some patterns (e.g., diminutives like het huisje always take het, and most plural nouns take de), but it’s largely a matter of memorization. Over time, as you see words in context, you’ll learn which article to use.

What does the in preposition mean in this context?

In this context, in shows that the chair is located inside the old house. It corresponds closely to the English preposition in, indicating location within something.