Learn Hardcore Dutch: Het detail is belangrijk.

In Dutch, nouns are assigned a grammatical gender. The noun detail is considered neuter, so it takes the definite article het. Nouns with a common gender use de, but neuter nouns like detail require het.

What role does the verb is play in this sentence?

Is is the present tense form of the verb zijn (to be) and acts as a linking verb. It connects the subject het detail with the predicate adjective belangrijk, indicating that the detail possesses the quality of being important.

How does the adjective belangrijk function in the sentence?

Belangrijk is a predicate adjective describing het detail. In Dutch, when an adjective follows a linking verb like is, it remains uninflected, simply specifying the quality of the subject.

How does the sentence structure of Het detail is belangrijk compare to English sentence structure?

The sentence follows a subject-verb-predicate adjective format, which is very similar to English (e.g., The detail is important). Both languages use a straightforward order in simple statements, although Dutch may exhibit more complex word order in subordinate or inverted sentences.

What changes if you want to refer to multiple details instead of a single detail?

If referring to multiple details, the noun becomes plural and the sentence changes accordingly. The singular het detail is belangrijk transforms into de details zijn belangrijk. Note that the article changes from het to de (since most plural nouns take de), and the verb is changes to zijn to agree with the plural subject.