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Questions & Answers about Wij behouden de kennis.
What does Wij mean in this sentence?
Wij is the Dutch subject pronoun that means we. It’s used to indicate that the sentence is referring to a group that includes the speaker.
What is the meaning of behouden and how does it function in this sentence?
Behouden translates to retain, keep, or preserve in English. In this sentence, it’s the conjugated verb that shows the action performed by the subject Wij. It indicates that the group is actively keeping or preserving the knowledge.
Why is the definite article de used before kennis instead of het?
Dutch nouns are categorized by gender. Kennis is a common-gender noun, which requires the definite article de. Even though some neuter nouns take het, kennis is an exception and always uses de.
How is the sentence structure in Dutch similar to or different from English?
The sentence follows a Subject-Verb-Object order, much like in English. Wij (the subject) comes first, followed by behouden (the verb), and then de kennis (the object). This similarity can make it easier to understand for learners transitioning from English to Dutch.
Is behouden a regular verb, and how might its conjugation change with different subjects?
Behouden is generally considered a regular verb in the present tense. For example:
• Ik behoud – I retain
• Jij behoudt – You retain
• Hij/Zij behoudt – He/She retains
• Wij behouden – We retain
This regular pattern makes it relatively predictable when conjugating for different subjects.