Hij schildert het huis blauw.

He paints the house blue.

Breakdown of Hij schildert het huis blauw.

• hij: he
• het huis: the house
• schilderen: to paint
• blauw: blue

Questions & Answers about Hij schildert het huis blauw.

What is the grammatical function of blauw in the sentence Hij schildert het huis blauw?

Blauw functions as a predicative adjective (or resultative complement). It describes the state into which het huis is transformed as a result of the painting. Unlike attributive adjectives—which appear before a noun and usually agree in form—the predicative adjective comes after the object to indicate a resultant condition.

Why does blauw appear after het huis rather than before it as an attributive adjective?

In Dutch, when an adjective is used to express the result or outcome of an action, it is placed after the object it modifies. If you were describing an inherent quality, you would use an attributive position with inflection (e.g., het blauwe huis). In this sentence, placing blauw after het huis communicates that the house is being painted and ends up blue.

What tense is the verb schildert, and how can you tell?

The verb schildert is in the present tense and is conjugated for the third person singular form of the verb schilderen (to paint). The ending -t is typical for Dutch verbs when the subject is hij (he).

How does the word order in Hij schildert het huis blauw compare to typical English sentence structure?

The sentence follows a subject-verb-object-adjunct order, which is very similar to English. Hij corresponds to the subject ("He"), schildert to the verb ("paints"), het huis to the object ("the house"), and blauw serves as the adjective complement ("blue"). This mirrors the English sentence "He paints the house blue," where the resultative adjective appears at the end.

Can the sentence be rephrased to convey the same meaning, and if so, how?

Yes, it can. One alternative is Hij schildert het huis in het blauw. This rephrasing uses a prepositional phrase (in het blauw) instead of the bare adjective blauw to describe the result of the painting. Both versions indicate that the house is painted blue, though the original form is more direct and common in Dutch.