Learn Hardcore Dutch: Deze stijl past goed in de kamer.

deze and dit are demonstrative pronouns. Use deze with de-words (common-gender nouns) and dit with het-words (neuter nouns). Since stijl is a de-word, you say deze stijl.

Is past here a past tense because it looks like the English word “past”?

No. In Dutch, past is the present tense, third-person singular of the verb passen (“to fit”). The English past tense “fitted” corresponds to Dutch paste, but here past simply means “(it) fits.”

What role does goed play? Can I omit it?

goed is an adverb modifying past (“fits well”). You can say Deze stijl past in de kamer, but without goed it just means “fits” without emphasizing that it “fits nicely” or “very well.”

Why do we use in here? Could we say op de kamer or bij de kamer instead?

in indicates something is inside a space. Op de kamer implies “on the floor of the room” or in regional usage even “in the student room,” and bij de kamer means “near” or “at the room.” To express that a style suits the interior, you use in de kamer.

Can I move in de kamer to the beginning of the sentence? How does the word order work?

Yes. Dutch follows the verb-second rule. If you start with in de kamer, the finite verb stays second: In de kamer past deze stijl goed. The subject (deze stijl) then follows the verb.

Why use passen here instead of staan? In English we say “that color suits you.”

passen is used to describe how well something “fits” or “suits” a context (a room, a situation). staan is used for how something “looks” on a person (e.g. die kleur staat je goed – “that color looks good on you”). For rooms or objects, use passen.

Why is there de before kamer?

kamer is a common-gender noun in Dutch, so it takes the definite article de. (“the room” = de kamer)

Can I replace in de kamer with a pronoun?

Yes. Use er to replace in de kamer: Deze stijl past er goed in. Here er stands for “in the room.”