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Questions & Answers about Dat brood kost een euro.
Why is dat used instead of het or die?
dat is the singular neuter demonstrative pronoun used with neuter (het) nouns like brood. You use dit/ dat with neuter words and deze/ die with de-words or plurals. You also don’t combine a demonstrative with the definite article—so it’s dat brood (that bread), not dat het brood. If the bread is close to you, you could say dit brood; dat brood implies it’s further away or already mentioned.
Is een in een euro an indefinite article or the number one?
Dutch uses the same word een for the indefinite article (a/an) and the numeral one. Here it’s the numeral one (one euro). Context tells you the meaning, but if you need to clarify or emphasize the number, you can write één with an accent. As an article (a loaf), you’d also write een, for example een brood.
Why doesn’t euro get an -s for the plural in een euro?
In Dutch, when a noun is directly preceded by a numeral—including een as the number one—it stays in the singular. So you say twee euro, drie euro and also één euro. You only add -s when it’s a general plural without a numeral, e.g. veel euro’s.
Why is the verb spelled kost and not kostet, like in German?
Although Dutch and German are related, their conjugation rules differ. The Dutch infinitive is kosten (to cost). For the third-person singular present you drop -en and add -t, giving kost. German verbs ending in -t or -d add -et, so you get kostet there.
Why does kost come right after dat brood? How does Dutch word order work here?
Dutch main clauses follow the V2 (Verb-Second) rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position in the sentence. Here the first element is the subject phrase Dat brood, so the verb kost comes next. Everything else (object, adverbs, etc.) follows after the verb: een euro.
When would you use dit brood instead of dat brood?
Both dit and dat are singular neuter demonstratives. Use dit (this bread) for something close to you, physically or contextually, and dat (that bread) for something farther away or previously mentioned. Neither is combined with an article.
How do you ask “How much does that bread cost?” in Dutch?
You say: Hoeveel kost dat brood? Here hoeveel means how much, and you still maintain the V2 word order: kost remains in second position even after the question word.