De hond loopt door het huis.

the dog

Breakdown of De hond loopt door het huis.

• het huis: the house
• lopen: to walk
• door: through

Questions & Answers about De hond loopt door het huis.

Why does hond take the article de while huis takes het?

In Dutch, every noun is assigned a grammatical gender—either common or neuter. Hond is a common gender noun, so it takes de, whereas huis is neuter and therefore uses het. Unlike English, there isn’t a direct rule for determining gender, so these associations often have to be memorized.

How is the verb loopt conjugated in this sentence, and why isn’t it loop or lopen?

The base form or infinitive of the verb is lopen, which means “to walk.” In the sentence, the subject is de hond (the dog), a singular third-person noun. For this subject, the present tense conjugation of lopen becomes loopt. The form loop would be used with the first-person singular (as in “I walk”), and lopen is used with plural subjects.

What role does the preposition door play, and how does its use here compare to its English equivalent?

The preposition door indicates movement within or through a space. In this context, it functions much like the English preposition “through” in the sentence “The dog walks through the house.” It specifies the path of the movement inside the house.

Is the word order in “De hond loopt door het huis” similar to that of English?

Yes, the sentence follows a straightforward subject-verb-prepositional phrase order, which is very similar to English. Just as “The dog walks through the house” maintains a clear order of subject, verb, and complement, the Dutch sentence mirrors this structure, making it easier for English speakers to understand.

Can lopen mean something other than “to walk” in Dutch?

Absolutely. While lopen most commonly means “to walk,” its meaning can shift based on context. It might also be used to mean “to run” or even to describe something operating (for example, referring to a machine as “running”). The exact interpretation depends on the context in which it is used.