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Questions & Answers about Het land is groot en mooi.
What does het signify in this sentence?
Het is the definite article used for neuter nouns in Dutch. In this sentence, it indicates that land is a neuter noun, distinguishing it from common gender nouns that take de.
What role does the verb is play here?
Is is the third-person singular form of zijn (to be). It serves as the linking verb that connects the subject (het land) with its descriptive qualities (groot en mooi), forming a predicate structure.
Why aren’t the adjectives groot and mooi inflected?
In Dutch, adjectives used predicatively—after a linking verb like is—generally do not take an inflection. Inflected forms are more common when adjectives are placed before nouns as direct modifiers.
What is the overall sentence structure of Het land is groot en mooi?
The sentence follows a typical subject-linking verb-predicate adjective construction. Het land is the subject, is is the linking verb, and groot en mooi are the predicate adjectives that describe the subject.
Does the order of the adjectives (groot en mooi) imply any additional meaning?
Not really. The adjectives simply enumerate two qualities of the country. The order is conventional and mirrors how qualities are often listed in both Dutch and English without adding extra emphasis to one over the other.
How does this sentence compare to its English counterpart?
The sentence structure is quite similar to English. Just like The country is large and beautiful, the Dutch sentence uses a subject followed by a linking verb and predicate adjectives. However, Dutch requires attention to article usage—using het for neuter nouns—and follows its own rules regarding adjective inflection.