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De wolk is groot en wit.

De wolk is groot en wit.
The cloud is big and white.
FromLesson 21inHardcore Dutch
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Breakdown of De wolk is groot en wit.

zijn
to be
groot
big
en
and
wit
white
de wolk
the cloud

Questions & Answers about De wolk is groot en wit.

Why do we use de instead of het with wolk?
Because Dutch nouns are divided into common‐gender (de-words) and neuter (het-words). wolk is a common‐gender noun, so it takes de.
What is the plural of wolk, and how would the sentence change?

The plural of wolk is wolken. In the plural you also change the verb to zijn (are): De wolken zijn groot en wit.

Why don’t the adjectives groot and wit have an -e ending here?
They’re used predicatively—placed after the verb zijn. Predicative adjectives in Dutch remain in their base form and are not inflected.
When do adjectives get an -e ending in Dutch?

Adjectives take -e when they’re attributive (before a noun): • After the definite article de: de grote wolk, de witte wolk
• After het with a neuter noun: het grote huis
• In all plurals: de grote huizen
Indefinite neuter nouns (with een) do not take -e: een groot huis.

How would you say “the big white cloud” in Dutch using attributive adjectives?

Put both adjectives before the noun with -e endings: de grote witte wolk

How can you turn this into a yes/no question?

Invert subject and verb: Is de wolk groot en wit?

How do you make this sentence negative?

Place niet (not) after the verb or before the part you want to negate: • To negate both adjectives: De wolk is niet groot en wit.
• To say it’s big but not white: De wolk is groot, maar niet wit.
• To say it’s white but not big: De wolk is wit, maar niet groot.

How would you say “The clouds are big and white” in Dutch?

Use the plural noun wolken and the plural verb zijn: De wolken zijn groot en wit.

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