Het boek bevalt mij.

I like the book.

Breakdown of Het boek bevalt mij.

• het boek: the book
• mij: me
• bevallen: to please

Questions & Answers about Het boek bevalt mij.

What is the literal meaning of Het boek bevalt mij?

The literal translation is "The book pleases me". In Dutch, this structure is common for expressing that something appeals to someone. Although it sounds a bit unusual in English, it conveys the idea that the book is pleasing to the speaker—essentially meaning "I like the book."

Why is the sentence structured with het boek as the subject and mij as the object, unlike the typical English construction?

In Dutch, verbs like bevallen work differently from those in English. Here, the thing that causes the feeling of pleasure (the book) is the subject, and the person who experiences the feeling is the indirect object. So instead of saying "I like the book," Dutch constructs it as "The book pleases me," which places the focus on the book as the active element.

Why is the definite article het used with boek instead of de?

Dutch nouns have grammatical gender. The noun boek is neuter, and all neuter nouns use the definite article het. Therefore, you get het boek rather than de boek.

What role does mij play in the sentence, and can it be replaced with me?

Mij is the object pronoun, indicating who is being pleased by the subject. In spoken Dutch, it is common to use the unstressed form me as well. Both het boek bevalt mij and het boek bevalt me are acceptable, though mij tends to be a bit more formal or emphatic.

How is the verb bevallen conjugated in this sentence, and why does it appear as bevalt?

The verb bevallen must agree with its subject. Since het boek is a singular neuter noun, the third-person singular form bevalt is used. If the subject were plural or a different person, the form of the verb would change accordingly.