Breakdown of De stewardess geeft de mensen water.
het water
the water
geven
to give
de stewardess
the stewardess
de mens
the human
Questions & Answers about De stewardess geeft de mensen water.
Why is the verb geeft used here instead of the infinitive geven?
Dutch verbs change form depending on the subject. Geven is the infinitive (“to give”). For the 3rd person singular (he/she/it), you remove -en to get the stem gev- and add -t, yielding geeft.
Example:
Ik geef (I give)
Jij geeft (you give)
Hij/zij/het geeft (he/she/it gives)
Why is it de stewardess and not het stewardess?
Dutch nouns are either de‑words or het‑words. Almost all feminine and masculine nouns take de. Since stewardess is a feminine noun (ending in -ess), it uses the article de. Only neuter nouns (like het huis “the house”) use het.
Why do we say de mensen with de? Can we drop the article and just say mensen?
Including de makes de mensen definite: “the people” (e.g. the passengers on this flight). Without de, mensen would be indefinite plural = “people” in general. Both are grammatically correct, but the meaning shifts:
- De stewardess geeft mensen water = The flight attendant gives water to people (in general).
- De stewardess geeft de mensen water = The flight attendant gives water to the (specific) people.