Het kind speelt met de bal in de tuin.

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Breakdown of Het kind speelt met de bal in de tuin.

• met: with
• spelen: to play
• de tuin: the garden

Questions & Answers about Het kind speelt met de bal in de tuin.

Why is the article "het" used with "kind" instead of "de"?

In Dutch, every noun has a grammatical gender. The noun kind (child) is neuter, so it takes the neuter definite article het rather than de, which is used for common gender nouns.

What is the role of "speelt" in this sentence?

Speelt is the third-person singular conjugation of the verb spelen (to play). It agrees with the subject het kind and indicates the action that the child is performing.

How do the prepositional phrases "met de bal" and "in de tuin" function in the sentence?

The phrase met de bal explains what the child is playing with, while in de tuin tells us where the action takes place. Both phrases act as modifiers of the main verb speelt, providing additional context about manner and location.

Why do the phrases "met de bal" and "in de tuin" use the article "de" instead of "het"?

In Dutch, the definite article de is used with common gender nouns. Both bal (ball) and tuin (garden) are common gender nouns, so they correctly take de as their article.

What is the sentence structure, and can the order of the phrases change in Dutch?