Questions & Answers about Het is vandaag bewolkt en koud.
Why does the sentence start with het rather than a specific noun?
In Dutch weather expressions, het functions as a dummy subject, much like English “it” in it’s raining. There is no concrete noun doing the action; het simply fills the grammatical subject slot so you can put the verb is in the second position.
What part of speech is vandaag, and why does it come after the verb?
vandaag is an adverb of time meaning today. Dutch main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb (is) must be in the second position. Here the first element is het (the dummy subject), the second is is, so vandaag (the time adverbial) naturally falls into third position.
Could you also say Vandaag is het bewolkt en koud? Does that change the meaning?
Yes, you can. When you start with vandaag (time adverbial) in first position, the verb is moves to second position and het follows. The meaning stays exactly the same; you’re only shifting emphasis to when rather than to the dummy subject het.
Is bewolkt a verb or an adjective, and why does it end with -t?