Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi.

Word
Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi.
Meaning
The story is short and very beautiful.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson

Breakdown of Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi.

zijn
to be
heel
very
mooi
beautiful
en
and
kort
short
het verhaal
the story
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Questions & Answers about Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi.

Why is it 'Het verhaal' and not 'De verhaal' in Dutch?
In Dutch, verhaal is a neuter noun, so it takes the article het. Many nouns that refer to inanimate objects or abstract concepts are neuter words, which explains why we say het verhaal rather than de verhaal.
What does kort mean exactly in this context?
Kort means short, generally referring to length or duration. In the context of a story, it indicates that the story itself is not very long. It does not refer to physical size in Dutch; for physical size, you might use other words like klein (small).
Why do we use heel before mooi? Could we use other words like erg or zeer?
In Dutch, heel, erg, and zeer can all mean very. They’re often interchangeable, but heel is the most common in everyday speech. Saying Het verhaal is kort en erg mooi or Het verhaal is kort en zeer mooi is perfectly fine, though heel has a slightly more colloquial feel.
Is there a difference between saying 'Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi' and 'Het korte en heel mooie verhaal'?
Yes. In 'Het verhaal is kort en heel mooi', kort and heel mooi follow the verb is, serving as predicates that describe the story. In 'Het korte en heel mooie verhaal', kort and heel mooi become attributive adjectives directly before verhaal. Both forms are grammatically correct, but the original sentence emphasizes the qualities of the story after stating what it is.
Why do we have the structure 'is kort en heel mooi' instead of something like 'kort en heel mooi is het verhaal'?
Dutch typically uses a subject–verb–object word order in main clauses. Here, Het verhaal (subject) comes first, followed by is (verb), and then kort en heel mooi (complement). While it’s possible to switch the word order in certain contexts for emphasis, the most straightforward and neutral sentence structure in Dutch places the subject before the verb and its complements.

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