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Questions & Answers about De kat is jong.
What does de mean in this sentence?
de is the definite article “the” in Dutch. It’s used with all common-gender nouns (also called “de-words”), whereas neuter nouns take het.
Why is it de kat and not het kat?
Dutch nouns have two grammatical genders: common (de) and neuter (het). kat is a common-gender noun, so it takes de. Only neuter nouns use het.
How do I say “a cat” instead of “the cat”?
Use the indefinite article een, so you get een kat is jong (“a cat is young”). Unlike English, een doesn’t change form before vowels.
Why doesn’t jong have an -e ending here?
After linking verbs like zijn (to be), adjectives are in the predicative position and remain in their base form (no -e). Only attributive adjectives (those placed before a noun) take an ending.
How would I say “the young cat” with the adjective before the noun?
As de jonge kat. Here jonge gets -e because attributive adjectives take -e when the noun is accompanied by de or het.
Is the word order the same as in English?
Yes. In a simple main clause Dutch typically follows Subject–Verb–Object (SVO). Here you have Subject (de kat), Verb (is), and Predicate Adjective (jong).
How do I conjugate zijn for other subjects?
Present-tense conjugation of zijn (to be):
• ik ben
• jij bent / u bent
• hij/zij/het is
• wij zijn
• jullie zijn
• zij zijn
How do I form the plural of kat?
Most common is adding -en: katten. So “the cats are young” becomes de katten zijn jong. Some Dutch nouns take -s, but kat takes -en.