Breakdown of Het gekozen gerecht smaakt heerlijk.
heerlijk
delicious
het gerecht
the dish
smaken
to taste
gekozen
chosen
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Questions & Answers about Het gekozen gerecht smaakt heerlijk.
Why is het used with gerecht, and how do I know when to use de versus het?
Dutch has two definite articles: de (for common-gender nouns and all plurals) and het (for neuter singular nouns). gerecht (‘dish’) is neuter, so it takes het.
There’s no foolproof rule, but many het-words share endings like -je, -um, -sel, -ment, etc. Otherwise you’ll need to learn each noun’s gender as you go.
What kind of word is gekozen, and why is it placed before gerecht?
gekozen is the past participle of kiezen (‘to choose’). Here it’s used in a reduced relative clause: instead of saying het gerecht dat gekozen is (‘the dish that has been chosen’), you shorten it to het gekozen gerecht. Placing the participle before the noun like this is common for “the … that has been …” constructions.
Why doesn’t gekozen take an -e ending, even though adjectives usually get -e with a definite article?
Attributive adjectives do get an -e before a de/het noun (e.g. de lekkere taart). But a participle in a reduced relative clause remains uninflected, because it still functions as part of the verb phrase rather than as a pure adjective. Thus you keep gekozen, not gekozende.
Why is the verb smaakt used here, and how does it compare to the English verb to taste?
In Dutch smaken is intransitive when you want to say “something tastes ….” You say Het gerecht smaakt heerlijk = “The dish tastes delicious.” For the transitive sense (“I taste the soup”), Dutch uses proeven: Ik proef de soep. So use smaakt + adjective for “it tastes ….”
Why is smaakt in the second position, and what does that tell me about Dutch word order?
Dutch is a V2 language in main clauses: the finite verb must occupy the second slot. Here the first slot is the subject phrase “Het gekozen gerecht”, so smaakt follows immediately. Everything else (like heerlijk) comes after the verb.
Why is heerlijk uninflected here, and when would I use heerlijke instead?
After a verb (predicatively), adjectives stay in their base form: smaakt heerlijk, is groot, voelt zacht. When the adjective comes before a noun (attributively), it usually takes -e with a definite article: het heerlijke gerecht, de grote hond, een zachte handdoek.
Can I use lekker instead of heerlijk, and is there a difference?
Yes. lekker is more colloquial (“tasty”), while heerlijk is stronger (“delicious” or “wonderful”). Grammatically they behave the same: predicative smaakt lekker/heerlijk (no -e), attributive de lekkere maaltijd, een heerlijk toetje.