Het hotel is verrassend comfortabel.

The hotel is surprisingly comfortable.

Breakdown of Het hotel is verrassend comfortabel.

• zijn: to be
• comfortabel: comfortable
• het hotel: the hotel
• verrassend: surprisingly

Questions & Answers about Het hotel is verrassend comfortabel.

What is the role of het in this sentence, and why is het used instead of de?

het is the definite article for neuter nouns in Dutch. hotel is a neuter noun, so you say het hotel (“the hotel”). de is used with common‑gender nouns (like de man, de tafel), not with neuter ones.

How do you pronounce hotel in Dutch?

You pronounce hotel as ho-TEL ([ɦoːˈtɛl]), with a long o in the first syllable and stress on the second syllable.

What part of speech is verrassend here, and what does it mean?

verrassend is the present participle of the verb verrassen (“to surprise”) used adverbially, so it means “surprisingly.” It modifies the adjective comfortabel (“comfortable”).

Why is comfortabel not inflected (no -e ending) in this sentence?

In Dutch, adjectives used predicatively (after a linking verb like zijn) remain in their base form and do not take an -e ending, regardless of gender or number. Since we have is comfortabel, there’s no -e.

How would you express “a surprisingly comfortable hotel” in Dutch, using an indefinite article and attributive adjectives?

You’d say een verrassend comfortabel hotel. With een + a neuter noun, attributive adjectives stay in their base form, so verrassend and comfortabel both have no -e.

How does adjective inflection change when you say “the comfortable hotel” attributively?

You say het comfortabele hotel. With het + a singular noun, attributive adjectives get an -e, so comfortabel becomes comfortabele before the noun.

Can you replace verrassend with other intensifiers like erg, heel, or zeer? What’s the nuance?

Yes. For example:

• Het hotel is erg comfortabel. (very comfortable)
• Het hotel is heel comfortabel. (very comfortable)
• Het hotel is zeer comfortabel. (quite/very comfortable)
  Using verrassend adds a nuance of surprise; erg, heel, zeer simply intensify without that nuance.

How would you form the negative of this sentence, like “The hotel is not surprisingly comfortable”?

Place niet before the adverb + adjective: Het hotel is niet verrassend comfortabel. This means “The hotel isn’t surprisingly comfortable.”

Can verrassend itself be used attributively before a noun, and does it change form?

Yes. For example een verrassend cadeau (“a surprising gift”). With een + neuter noun, verrassend stays in its base form. If you use het, you’d add -e: het verrassende cadeau.