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Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.

Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.
There are three chairs in the garden.

Breakdown of Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.

in
in
de stoel
the chair
staan
to stand
de tuin
the garden
drie
three
er
it
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Questions & Answers about Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.

What does er mean in this sentence, and is it necessary?

In Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin, the word er is a dummy/placeholder subject, similar to English there in There are three chairs in the garden.

  • It does not refer to a specific place (like there = over there).
  • It mainly helps with word order: the finite verb (staan) must be in second position, and er fills the first position.

Is it necessary?

  • In this exact order, yes:
    • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin. ✅
    • Staan drie stoelen in de tuin. ❌ (sounds wrong without er)

You can change the word order and then drop er:

  • Drie stoelen staan in de tuin. ✅
  • In de tuin staan drie stoelen. ✅
Why is it staan and not zijn, since in English we say There are three chairs?

Dutch often uses posture verbs instead of zijn (to be) when talking about where objects are:

  • staan – stand / be in a standing, upright position
  • liggen – lie / be lying, horizontal
  • zitten – sit / be sitting, be inside something
  • hangen – hang / be hanging

Chairs are normally upright objects standing on the ground, so Dutch says:

  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.

Using zijn is grammatically possible but sounds less natural here:

  • Er zijn drie stoelen in de tuin. – understandable, but a bit more neutral / factual, and less idiomatic than staan.

For furniture on the floor, staan is usually the default.

Why is it staan (plural) and not staat (singular)?

The verb must agree with the subject:

  • Subject: drie stoelen → plural
  • Verb: staan → plural form of staan

So:

  • Er staat een stoel in de tuin. – one chair → singular staat
  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin. – three chairs → plural staan

Even though er comes first, drie stoelen is still the real subject that controls the verb form.

Why is there no article before drie stoelen? Why not de drie stoelen or drie de stoelen?

In Dutch, just like in English, you don’t use an article with an indefinite plural:

  • drie stoelen = three chairs
  • no de or het needed, because you are introducing them as new, non-specific chairs.

Compare:

  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin. – There are three chairs in the garden. (new, unspecified chairs)
  • Er staan de drie stoelen in de tuin. – sounds wrong/odd; you wouldn’t say it like this.
  • De drie stoelen staan in de tuin. – The three chairs are in the garden. (you and the listener already know which three chairs you mean)

So: no article for an indefinite plural (like English three chairs, some chairs).

Why is it de tuin and not het tuin?

Dutch has two grammatical genders for nouns:

  • de-words (common gender)
  • het-words (neuter gender)

The word tuin (garden) is a de-word, so it always takes de:

  • de tuin – the garden
  • in de tuin – in the garden

You simply have to learn the gender of each noun:

  • de stoel – the chair
  • de tuin – the garden
  • het huis – the house

There is no rule that would make tuin a het-word; memorization and exposure are key.

Can I say Drie stoelen staan in de tuin instead of Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.
  • Drie stoelen staan in de tuin.

Both are grammatically correct.

Nuance:

  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin.

    • Very neutral and common way to introduce new information.
    • Similar to English There are three chairs in the garden.

  • Drie stoelen staan in de tuin.

    • Slightly more emphasis on drie stoelen.
    • Sounds more like you are talking about those chairs specifically (topic focus), e.g.:
      • Drie stoelen staan in de tuin, en de rest staat binnen.
        (Three chairs are in the garden, and the rest are inside.)

For everyday neutral statements about existence/location, Er staan… is more typical.

Can I also say In de tuin staan drie stoelen? Where would er go then?

Yes, this is a very natural variant:

  • In de tuin staan drie stoelen. ✅

Here, In de tuin is put first, so the verb staan must be second (Dutch verb-second rule). Then the subject drie stoelen follows.

You can add er, but then the meaning changes slightly:

  • In de tuin staan er drie stoelen.

This often emphasizes the number (that there are three of them, not two or four), especially in contrast:

  • In de tuin staan er drie, en op het terras staan er vijf.
    (In the garden there are three (of them), and on the terrace there are five.)

So:

  • In de tuin staan drie stoelen. – neutral description
  • In de tuin staan er drie stoelen. – focuses more on the quantity three
Why is the preposition in used here? Could it be op de tuin or bij de tuin?

In de tuin means inside the area of the garden, within its boundaries.

  • in de tuin – in the garden (within it)
  • op de tuin – not used in standard Dutch for this meaning
  • bij de tuin – near / next to the garden, not in it

So for objects physically located within the garden space, you say:

  • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin. – The chairs are inside the garden area.
What’s the difference between staan, liggen, and zitten when talking about where things are?

Dutch uses different verbs depending on the way something is positioned:

  • staan – for things that are upright, on their base:

    • Er staan drie stoelen in de tuin. – chairs on their legs
    • Het glas staat op tafel. – the glass is (standing) on the table

  • liggen – for things lying flat or horizontal:

    • Het boek ligt op tafel. – the book is lying on the table
    • De kat ligt op de bank. – the cat is lying on the couch

  • zitten – for people sitting, or things that are inside or stuck in something:

    • Ik zit in de tuin. – I am sitting in the garden
    • Er zit suiker in de koffie. – there is sugar in the coffee

In your sentence, chairs are upright objects on the ground, so staan is the natural choice.

How do you pronounce the ui in tuin and the ee in drie?

  • ui in tuin

    • A Dutch diphthong with no exact English equivalent.
    • It’s roughly like starting with uh (as in but) and gliding towards ee (as in see), but said quickly and as one sound: [œy].
    • Common words with ui: huis, muur, lui, buiten, tuin.

  • ie in drie

    • Pronounced like English ee in see, tree.
    • So drie sounds like English dree.

Putting it together:

  • drie ≈ dree
  • tuin has that special Dutch ui sound: t
    • [œy]
      • n.