De jongen en het meisje zingen samen in het oude huis.

The boy and the girl sing together in the old house.

Breakdown of De jongen en het meisje zingen samen in het oude huis.

• in: in
• het huis: the house
• en: and
• oud: old
• samen: together
• de jongen: the boy
• het meisje: the girl
• zingen: to sing

Questions & Answers about De jongen en het meisje zingen samen in het oude huis.

Why do we use de for jongen and het for meisje?

In Dutch, nouns are categorized as either de-words or het-words. Jongen is a masculine (common) noun, therefore it takes the article de, whereas meisje is a neuter noun and takes the article het. There isn’t always a clear-cut rule from an English perspective; it often requires memorization and practice.

Why does the adjective oud become oude in het oude huis?

Adjectives in Dutch usually get an -e ending when they appear before a noun with a definite article (like het or de). Since we have het plus a singular noun huis, we use het oude huis rather than het oud huis. This follows the standard adjective-inflection rules in Dutch.

Can I say De jongen en het meisje zingen in het huis oude?

No. In Dutch, adjectives generally precede the noun they modify. So you should keep oude directly before huis: in het oude huis. Placing the adjective after the noun would sound incorrect unless you use a specific poetic or stylistic construction (which is more advanced).

Can I leave out samen if it is clear they are singing together?

Yes, you can drop samen and simply say De jongen en het meisje zingen in het oude huis. However, using samen emphasizes that both are singing together at the same time. Without samen, the sentence still means they are singing, but it doesn’t stress the collaborative aspect.

Is there a difference between samen and tezamen?

Both words mean together, but samen is the more common, neutral choice in everyday language. Tezamen is somewhat archaic or more formal, and you’re more likely to find it in older texts or very formal writing. For ordinary conversations, samen is preferred.