Tom zet een volle winkelwagen naast de groentenafdeling in de supermarkt.

Tom places a full shopping cart next to the vegetable section in the supermarket.

Breakdown of Tom zet een volle winkelwagen naast de groentenafdeling in de supermarkt.

• Tom: Tom
• in: in
• naast: next to
• een: a, an
• zetten: to put
• de supermarkt: the supermarket
• vol: full
• de winkelwagen: the shopping cart
• de groentenafdeling: the vegetable section

Questions & Answers about Tom zet een volle winkelwagen naast de groentenafdeling in de supermarkt.

Why is the adjective volle used instead of just vol?

In Dutch, adjectives that come before a singular noun almost always take an -e ending when there’s an article (definite de/het or indefinite een). Here winkelwagen is a common gender (de-word) with the indefinite article een, so vol becomes volle:

• “een volle winkelwagen”
  If you used the predicate position (after a form of zijn, “to be”), you could say De winkelwagen is vol with no -e.

Why do we say een volle winkelwagen and not het volle winkelwagen or een volle kar?

1. een/het:

   • de-words (common gender) use de/een.
   • het is only for het-words (neuter gender). Winkelwagen is a de-word, so you need een here.

2. kar vs. winkelwagen:

   • kar does exist, but normally kar means a handcart in a warehouse or farm. In a supermarket you call it winkelwagen (“shop cart” or “shopping trolley”).

What’s going on with groentenafdeling? Why not groenteafdeling?

Dutch forms many compounds by linking two nouns. Here: groenten (the plural of groente) + afdeling (“department”). We use the plural linking form groenten because it refers to the assortment of vegetables.
Compound = Groenten-afdeling → groentenafdeling.

Why do we use zetten here and not leggen or plaatsen?

• zetten = to place something in an upright position.
• leggen = to lay something horizontally.
• plaatsen = more general “to put/place,” but less common in everyday speech for moving objects in a store.

Since a shopping cart is upright, zetten is most natural.

What’s the difference between the prepositions naast and bij?

• naast = “next to,” emphasizing immediate side-by-side position.
• bij = “at” or “by,” more general; could mean “near” but not necessarily touching.

naast de groentenafdeling makes it clear the cart is прямо beside that section.

Why do we say in de supermarkt and not op de supermarkt?

Prepositions in Dutch follow English logic here:

• in = inside an enclosed space (in the supermarket)
• op = on top of or at a surface (on top of the table, on the roof)
• bij = near/outside

Since Tom and his cart are inside the store, we use in.

Why is the order …winkelwagen naast de groentenafdeling in de supermarkt and not the other way around?

Dutch often orders location phrases from most specific to most general:

1. The object: een volle winkelwagen
2. A specific spot within the store: naast de groentenafdeling
3. The overall place: in de supermarkt

You could say in de supermarkt naast de groentenafdeling, but it feels a bit heavier. Native speakers tend to go from the closest, smallest location to the broader one.