Die politieagent was heel vriendelijk en gaf ons zelfs een korte routebeschrijving.

That police officer was very friendly and even gave us brief directions.

Breakdown of Die politieagent was heel vriendelijk en gaf ons zelfs een korte routebeschrijving.

• zijn: to be
• heel: very
• en: and
• die: that
• vriendelijk: friendly
• kort: short
• een: a, an
• geven: to give
• ons: us
• zelfs: even
• de politieagent: the police officer
• de routebeschrijving: the route description

Questions & Answers about Die politieagent was heel vriendelijk en gaf ons zelfs een korte routebeschrijving.

Why is die used before politieagent instead of dat, and what does it mean here?

die is a demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” for all singular and plural de-words (common-gender nouns).

• politieagent is a de-word, so you use die.
• dat would be used for het-words (neuter nouns).
  Here, die politieagent simply means “that police officer.”

What’s the difference between die politieagent and de politieagent or een politieagent?

• de politieagent = “the police officer” (definite article).
• een politieagent = “a police officer” (indefinite article).
• die politieagent = “that police officer” (demonstrative, pointing to someone you have in mind or saw earlier).

What role does heel play in heel vriendelijk, and is it the same as erg vriendelijk?

heel is an intensifier meaning “very.”

• You can also use erg to mean “very.”
• Nuance: heel vriendelijk is slightly more neutral, while erg vriendelijk can feel a bit stronger or more emphatic.
  Both are correct and common.

What part of speech is zelfs, and why is it placed before een korte routebeschrijving?

zelfs is an adverb meaning “even.” It highlights something surprising or noteworthy.
Placement: it usually comes directly before the word or phrase it emphasizes.
In gaf ons zelfs een korte routebeschrijving, it stresses that the officer even took the time to give directions.

Why is the past tense of geven here gaf, and why doesn’t it have a -t or -de ending?

geven is an irregular (strong) verb. Its simple past (imperfectum) forms are:

• ik gaf
• jij gaf
• hij/zij gaf
  … and the past participle is gegeven.
  Because it’s strong, it changes the vowel instead of taking a -de or -te ending.

What is the object ons in gaf ons, and why is it used here?

ons is the first-person-plural object pronoun meaning “us.”
In gaf ons een korte routebeschrijving, ons is the indirect object: the police officer gave us something (the directions).

Why does korte have an -e ending in een korte routebeschrijving?

In Dutch, adjectives preceding a noun get an -e ending in these cases:

• After de and het with definite nouns (e.g. de mooie dag).
• After een with de-words or plural nouns (e.g. een mooie dag, mooie dagen).
  Since routebeschrijving is a de-word and we have een, the adjective kort takes -e, giving een korte routebeschrijving.

How is routebeschrijving formed, and what does it literally mean?

routebeschrijving is a compound of route (route) + beschrijving (description).
Literally “route description,” it means “directions” or “instructions for how to get somewhere.”

Why is there no comma before en in was heel vriendelijk en gaf ons…, and how does word order work here?

• In Dutch, you don’t normally put a comma before a simple coordinating conjunction like en.
• Word order: Dutch main clauses follow Subject – Verb – (Rest). Even after en, you keep that order.
  So Die politieagent (S) was (V) heel vriendelijk (Rest) en gaf (V) ons… stays consistent without inversion or a comma.