Het blad ligt op de tafel ondanks de wind.

the table

Breakdown of Het blad ligt op de tafel ondanks de wind.

• liggen: to lie
• op: on
• ondanks: despite

Questions & Answers about Het blad ligt op de tafel ondanks de wind.

Why is it het blad and not de blad?

Dutch nouns belong to one of two gender–article combinations: de for common‐gender nouns and het for neuter nouns. Unfortunately, you often have to memorize which is which. In this case, blad is a neuter noun, so it takes het. Always learn new vocabulary together with its article (e.g. het blad, de tafel, de wind).

Why is the verb ligt used here? Could I use staat or zit instead?

Dutch has several “position” verbs that describe how something is placed or positioned:

• liggen (“to lie”) for flat, horizontal objects
• staan (“to stand”) for upright objects
• zitten (“to sit”) for objects that are inserted or contained
  Since a sheet of paper lies flat on a surface, we use liggen in the present tense: ligt. Using staat or zit here would sound odd because the paper isn’t standing or inserted.

Why is it op de tafel and can I just say op tafel?