Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller.

Those black boots make her outfit even more stylish.

Breakdown of Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller.

• haar: her
• maken: to make
• die: those
• nog: even
• de laars: the boot
• stijlvol: stylish
• zwart: black
• de outfit: the outfit

Questions & Answers about Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller.

Why is it die and not deze or dat?

In Dutch, die is the demonstrative used for:

• plural nouns (both de- and het-words)
• singular de-words (for “that”)

Here laarzen is plural, so you must use die for those boots.
Rough rules:

• deze = this/these (near the speaker)
• die = that/those (further away / less immediate)
• dat = that (singular het-words)
• dit = this (singular het-words)

So for plural laarzen, you choose between deze laarzen (these boots) and die laarzen (those boots). The sentence chooses die.

Why is it zwarte laarzen and not zwart laarzen?

Dutch adjectives usually get an -e ending when they come in front of a noun with a determiner (article, demonstrative, possessive, etc.). That’s called the attributive position.

• die zwarte laarzen – those black boots
  
  • die (demonstrative) + zwarte (adjective with -e) + laarzen (noun)

Compare:

• De laarzen zijn zwart. – The boots are black.
  Here zwart stands after the verb and is not followed by a noun. That’s the predicative position, so no -e.

So: zwarte laarzen (attributive) but laarzen zijn zwart (predicative).

Why is it maken and not maakt?

The verb agrees with the subject.
The subject here is die zwarte laarzen, which is plural (boots), so the verb must also be plural:

• zij maken – they make
• die laarzen maken – those boots make

If the subject were singular, you’d use maakt:

• Die zwarte laars maakt haar outfit nog stijlvoller. – That black boot makes her outfit even more stylish. (a bit odd contextually, but grammatically correct)

So: plural subject → maken, singular subject → maakt (for 3rd person present).

Why is there no article before outfit? Why not haar de outfit?

In Dutch, a possessive pronoun (like mijn, jouw, zijn, haar, ons, etc.) replaces the article; you don’t use both together.

So:

• de outfit – the outfit
• haar outfit – her outfit (no de)

You cannot say haar de outfit. That would be like saying her the outfit in English.

Does haar here mean “hair” or “her”? How can I tell?

Dutch haar can mean both:

1. hair (noun):
   
   • Haar haar is lang. – Her hair is long.
2. her (possessive pronoun):
   
   • Haar outfit is mooi. – Her outfit is beautiful.

In the sentence Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller, haar is directly before a noun (outfit), so it’s the possessive pronoun → her.
When haar means hair, it usually appears as the noun itself, often with an article or possessive:

• het haar
• mijn haar
• haar haar (her hair)

What does nog add to the meaning? Isn’t it usually “still”?

Nog has several meanings in Dutch. Two common ones:

1. still (continuing action):
   
   • Ze is nog hier. – She is still here.
2. even (intensifying a comparison):
   
   • nog stijlvoller – even more stylish

In this sentence, nog is used in sense (2): it intensifies the comparative stijlvoller.
So nog stijlvoller is like even more stylish / even more stylish than before. It does not mean still stylish here. For “still stylish” you’d say nog steeds stijlvol.

Why is it stijlvoller and not meer stijlvol?

Dutch usually forms comparatives by adding -er to the adjective:

• mooi → mooier (more beautiful)
• lief → liever
• stijlvol → stijlvoller

Meer + adjective is used:

• with some longer or foreign adjectives (e.g. meer interessant is often preferred over interessanter),
• when you want to sound a bit more formal or careful in some contexts.

With stijlvol, stijlvoller is the normal, natural form. Meer stijlvol is understandable but sounds less idiomatic in this sentence.

Why is there no dan (than) after stijlvoller?

Dutch can use dan to show what you compare with:

• Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit stijlvoller dan die rode.
  Those black boots make her outfit more stylish than the red one.

But often, like in your sentence, the comparison is implicit:

• Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller.

It means “more stylish than it was before” or “more stylish than without the boots”, and that “than …” part is just understood from context, so dan isn’t necessary.

Why is it nog stijlvoller and not nog stijlvollere?

Here, stijlvoller is a predicative complement of outfit (what the outfit becomes), not an adjective directly before a noun.

Compare:

• Die laarzen maken haar outfit nog stijlvoller.
  → stijlvoller describes outfit, after the verb maken → no -e

But:

• haar nog stijlvollere outfit – her even more stylish outfit
  Here, nog stijlvollere comes before the noun outfit and directly modifies it → -e ending.

So:

• predicative after the verb → stijlvoller
• attributive before the noun → stijlvollere

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Can I move parts around?

The sentence has standard main-clause word order:

• Subject: Die zwarte laarzen
• Verb: maken
• Object: haar outfit
• Complement: nog stijlvoller

So: S – V – O – (rest)

You can move some elements for emphasis, but the finite verb usually stays in second position:

• Haar outfit maken die zwarte laarzen nog stijlvoller. (emphasis on haar outfit; sounds more poetic/formal)
• In a subordinate clause, the finite verb goes to the end:
  
  • … omdat die zwarte laarzen haar outfit nog stijlvoller maken.

For normal, neutral speech, the original order is best.

What is the gender and number of laarzen, and what is the singular form?

Laarzen is:

• plural
• belongs to the de-word group in the singular

The singular is:

• de laars – the boot
• de laarzen – the boots

That’s why you use die (for plural) and the plural verb maken in your sentence.

Can I replace nog with ook? What would change?

You could say:

• Die zwarte laarzen maken haar outfit ook stijlvoller.

But ook means also / too, not even. So:

• nog stijlvoller → even more stylish (stronger increase)
• ook stijlvoller → also more stylish (adds another effect but doesn’t emphasise how big the change is)

In your original sentence, nog nicely stresses that the boots increase the level of style beyond what it already was.