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Questions & Answers about Hij leent mijn boek.
What does "Hij" mean, and what role does it play in the sentence?
"Hij" means "he". It is the subject of the sentence, indicating who is performing the action.
Why is the verb leent spelled with a -t at the end?
In Dutch, when conjugating a regular verb in the present tense for the third person singular (he/she/it), you add a -t to the stem. Thus, for "Hij", the verb "lenen" becomes "leent."
What does lenen mean in this sentence, and how might that confuse native English speakers?
In this context, "lenen" means "to borrow." This can be confusing because in English the word "lend" means "to give something temporarily" rather than "to borrow." To clearly express "to lend" in Dutch, one would typically say "uitlenen."
What is the function of "mijn" in the sentence?
"Mijn" is a possessive adjective that means "my." It indicates ownership, showing that the book belongs to the speaker.
Why does the sentence follow a Subject-Verb-Object order, and how does that compare to English?
The sentence "Hij leent mijn boek." follows the straightforward Dutch word order of Subject-Verb-Object, which is similar to the typical word order in basic English sentences like "He borrows my book." This similarity makes the sentence relatively easy for native English speakers to understand.
How would you modify the sentence if you intended to say that he is lending out the book instead of borrowing it?
To indicate that he is lending out the book, you would add the separable prefix uit- to the verb. The modified sentence becomes "Hij leent mijn boek uit." This clarifies that he is giving the book temporarily, rather than borrowing it.