De hond ligt op de grond.

The dog is lying on the ground.

Breakdown of De hond ligt op de grond.

• de hond: the dog
• liggen: to lie
• op: on
• de grond: the ground

Questions & Answers about De hond ligt op de grond.

Why is the definite article de used before both hond and grond?

In Dutch there are two definite articles: de and het.

• de is used for all common-gender nouns (and for all plurals).
• het is used for singular neuter nouns.
  Both hond (dog) and grond (ground) are common-gender, so you say de hond and de grond.

Why is the verb ligt used here, rather than an English-style “is lying”?

Dutch does not have a separate continuous tense. The simple present covers both “lies” and “is lying.”

• ligt is the 3rd person singular present of liggen (to lie).
  If you really want to stress the ongoing action, you can use constructions like:
• De hond is op de grond aan het liggen. (He is lying on the ground.)
• Or combine ligt with te + infinitive, e.g. De hond ligt op de grond te slapen.

What does op de grond mean, and why not in de grond?

• op means “on” (on a surface), so op de grond is “on the ground.”
• in means “in” (inside), so in de grond would mean “inside the ground” (e.g. buried).
  If you want “on the floor,” you’d say op de vloer; “on the grass” is op het gras.

Why is the word order De hond ligt op de grond (Subject–Verb–Prepositional Phrase)?

In a simple main clause Dutch uses V2 (verb-second) word order, similar to English S-V-O:
1st element: De hond (subject)
2nd element: ligt (finite verb)
3rd+: op de grond (prepositional phrase)
You can front an adverbial for emphasis (“Op de grond ligt de hond”), but the verb must remain in second place.

Why do we use liggen here instead of staan or zitten?

Dutch has three common position verbs:

• liggen for lying (horizontal position)
• staan for standing (vertical)
• zitten for sitting (vertical, on one’s bottom)
  Since the dog is lying down, liggen is the correct choice.

How would you make the sentence plural, “The dogs lie on the ground”?

Pluralize both the noun and the verb:

• hond → honden
• ligt → liggen (3rd person plural)
  The article de stays the same for plurals:
  De honden liggen op de grond.

Can you drop the article de like in English (“Dogs lie on the ground”)?

Yes, when speaking about dogs in general you can omit de:
Honden liggen op de grond.
Here honden (no article) means “dogs (in general).” With de honden you refer to specific dogs you have in mind.

How do you pronounce hond, grond, and ligt?

A rough guide using English approximations:

• hond: like “hont” with a soft, breathy h and short o (/ɦɔnt/)
• grond: like “ghront” with a guttural g (/ɣrɔnt/)
• ligt: like “licht,” but with a hard g/ch sound (/lɪxt/)
  The Dutch g/​ch is a voiced/voiceless uvular or velar fricative not found in standard American/British English.