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Questions & Answers about Mijn veter zit los.
What exactly does veter mean, and what are its gender and plural?
- veter means shoelace. It can also mean a lace/cord in clothing, but for hoodies or sweatpants people often say koord or touwtje instead.
- Gender: common gender → de veter (not het).
- Indefinite: een veter.
- Plural: veters.
- You’ll also hear the longer form schoenveter (shoelace).
Why is it zit los and not is los?
Dutch uses so‑called posture/location verbs (zitten, liggen, staan, hangen) to describe how things are positioned or attached. For things that are attached or supposed to be fixed in place, zitten is idiomatic. So a shoelace that isn’t tight anymore zit los. You can say is los, and people will understand, but zit los is the natural collocation here.
What part of speech is los here?
los is a predicate adjective meaning loose. In combination with zitten, it forms a common pattern: [iets] zit los = something is loose. Related words:
- vast = tight/stuck; [iets] zit vast.
- losmaken = to loosen/untie.
- losser = looser; losjes = loosely.
How do I say both laces are loose?