Breakdown of Wij fietsen naar het centrum en zien een mooie winkel.
wij
we
naar
to
mooi
beautiful
en
and
zien
to see
fietsen
to bike
het centrum
the center
de winkel
the shop
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Questions & Answers about Wij fietsen naar het centrum en zien een mooie winkel.
What does wij mean in this sentence?
Wij is the Dutch first-person plural pronoun, equivalent to we in English. It clearly indicates that the actions are performed by a group including the speaker.
What does the verb fietsen mean, and why is it in its base form here?
Fietsen means to bike or to cycle. In Dutch, with the subject wij (first-person plural), the verb is used in its base form without additional conjugations, which is standard for plural subjects.
How is direction expressed in the sentence, and what does naar signify?
The word naar is a preposition that indicates direction or destination, meaning to in English. It shows that the biking is directed toward the center (het centrum).
Why is the article het used with centrum, and what does that tell us about the noun?
Centrum is a neuter noun in Dutch, so it is preceded by the neuter article het instead of de, which is used for common gender nouns.
Why is the adjective mooi modified to mooie when describing winkel?
Winkel is a common gender noun. In Dutch, when an adjective directly precedes a common gender noun and is used with an article (here, een), it takes the -e ending. Thus, mooi becomes mooie.
How is the sentence structured in terms of its compound elements?
The sentence is compound, connecting two independent clauses with en (meaning and). Both actions (biking and seeing) share the same subject, wij, which is only mentioned once at the beginning.