Learn Hardcore Dutch: Tom verloor zijn passer gisteren, maar hij vond er vanmorgen weer één. - Tom lost his compass yesterday, but he found one again this morning.

verliezen is a strong (irregular) verb. In the simple past for hij/zij/het (3rd singular) you change the vowel: verliezen → verloor. The past participle is verloren (used with heeft verloren).

Why is it Tom verloor zijn passer and not Tom verloor de passer?

Using zijn passer (“his compass”) tells us it’s a specific item that belongs to Tom. de passer would sound like “the compass” in general, without indicating ownership.

Why is there no er in the first clause, but er appears in the second clause?

In the first clause you’re introducing the object for the first time (“zijn passer”). You only use er once the noun has already been mentioned; in the second clause er stands in for that previously mentioned passer.

What is the function of er in hij vond er vanmorgen weer één?

Here er is a placeholder pronoun referring back to the lost compass. It essentially means “he found one (of them) again this morning.”

Why is er placed before vanmorgen and weer, instead of after them?

In Dutch main clauses, unstressed pronouns (like er) occupy a fixed slot (directly before adverbs). So the order is: subject – verb – er – time adverb (vanmorgen) – other adverb (weer) – numeral (één).

What does weer mean in this context?

weer means “again” here, indicating that he has recovered the compass once more.

Why is één written with an accent here?

The accent on één marks it as the numeral “one,” distinguishing it from the indefinite article een (“a”).

Why does the word order after maar remain subject–verb (maar hij vond), instead of inverting to verb–subject?

maar is a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions (like en, maar, of) do not affect the normal SVO word order of the main clause.