Breakdown of Gisteren stopte een jonge toerist zijn munt in de oude spaarpot.
in
in
oud
old
zijn
his
gisteren
yesterday
een
a, an
stoppen
to put
jong
young
de munt
the coin
de spaarpot
the piggy bank
de toerist
the tourist
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Questions & Answers about Gisteren stopte een jonge toerist zijn munt in de oude spaarpot.
Why is Gisteren placed at the beginning of the sentence?
In Dutch you can front a time adverbial (like Gisteren) into the first position for emphasis or clarity. As soon as you start with something other than the subject, you must invert the finite verb and the subject (see next question).
Why does the verb stopte come immediately after Gisteren, before een jonge toerist?
Dutch follows the “V2” (verb-second) rule. Whatever occupies the first slot (here Gisteren), the finite verb (stopte) must sit in the second slot. The subject (een jonge toerist) then follows in slot three.
Why is the form stopte used instead of a present perfect like heeft gestopt?
Both simple past (preterite) and perfect can describe past events in Dutch. With a clear time marker like Gisteren, the simple past (stopte) is very natural, especially in storytelling or reports of completed actions.
Why do the adjectives jonge and oude end in -e?
In Dutch, adjectives preceding a noun take an -e ending when there is any article (definite de, indefinite een) or other determiner before them. So you get een jonge toerist and de oude spaarpot regardless of gender or number (as long as it’s not a bare infinitive/noun phrase without an article).
Why is een used with jonge toerist but de with oude spaarpot?
een jonge toerist introduces “a young tourist” in an indefinite sense (we don’t know which one). de oude spaarpot refers to a specific, already known or contextually clear money box (“the old piggy bank”).
How do we know zijn refers to the tourist and not to something else?
zijn is the third-person singular masculine/neuter possessive pronoun (“his”). It always refers back to the subject of the clause (een jonge toerist). If the subject had been feminine, you’d see haar instead of zijn.
What exactly is spaarpot? Is it a compound word?
Yes. spaarpot is a compound of sparen (“to save”) + pot (“pot/jar”). It literally means “savings jar” or “piggy bank” in English.
Why do we use the preposition in here, and could we choose a different one?
With the verb stoppen meaning “to put into,” the structure is stoppen [object] in [container]. You can’t say stoppen op for “inside” – op would mean “on top of.” If you wanted “into” you can also use doen in (e.g. hij deed zijn munt in de spaarpot), but stoppen in is perfectly idiomatic.