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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?