Breakdown of Zijn karakter lijkt rustig, maar hij is soms erg dapper.
Questions & Answers about Zijn karakter lijkt rustig, maar hij is soms erg dapper.
In this sentence, zijn means his, not to be.
Dutch has two different words spelled zijn:
- zijn = to be (infinitive)
- zijn = his (possessive pronoun)
You can tell from the structure:
- zijn karakter → a possessive word followed by a noun, so it means his character.
- If zijn were the verb to be, it would normally be preceded by a subject, e.g. hij wil zijn (he wants to be). Here, zijn comes directly before a noun, so it must be possessive.
Yes, you can say Zijn karakter is rustig, but it changes the meaning slightly.
- Zijn karakter is rustig = you state it as a fact: his character is calm.
- Zijn karakter lijkt rustig = you say it seems calm, based on how it appears from the outside; you leave open the possibility that reality is different.
So lijkt is less definite and a bit more subjective than is.
Lijkt is the third person singular of lijken. It has two main uses:
lijken = to seem / to appear
- Zijn karakter lijkt rustig. → His character seems calm.
In this meaning, you do not use op.
- Zijn karakter lijkt rustig. → His character seems calm.
lijken op = to resemble / to look like
- Hij lijkt op zijn vader. → He looks like his father.
So:
- lijkt rustig = seems calm
- lijkt op zijn vader = looks like his father
Dutch adjectives take an -e ending when they come before a noun (attributive), but not when they come after a form of “to be” (predicative).
- Attributive: een rustige man, een dappere man
- Predicative: Hij is rustig, Hij is dapper
In the sentence:
- Zijn karakter lijkt rustig → rustig comes after lijkt, describing the subject, so no -e.
- hij is soms erg dapper → dapper comes after is, again no -e.
Dutch normally prefers to talk about the person rather than their character if the meaning is clear.
The first clause (Zijn karakter lijkt rustig) focuses on his character as an abstract thing. The contrast in the second clause shifts to the actual person: maar hij is soms erg dapper.
You could say maar zijn karakter is soms erg dapper, but it sounds less natural and a bit clumsy; Dutch speakers usually switch back to hij.
In Dutch, a comma before maar is very common when it connects two full clauses, like here:
- Zijn karakter lijkt rustig, maar hij is soms erg dapper.
You will also sometimes see it without a comma in informal writing, but the comma is recommended, especially in more careful or formal text. If maar is not joining full clauses, there is often no comma, e.g.:
- Hij is maar soms dapper. (different meaning: “he is only sometimes brave”)
Yes, both are correct, with a slight difference in emphasis:
- Hij is soms erg dapper. → neutral word order; soms has normal, middle emphasis.
- Soms is hij erg dapper. → you emphasize sometimes more; it sounds like you are highlighting the occasional braveness.
What you cannot do is break the basic verb-second rule, e.g.
- Hij soms is erg dapper. ❌ (wrong word order: the finite verb is must be in second position)
All three can mean roughly very, but they differ in tone:
- erg dapper → very common, neutral spoken Dutch.
- heel dapper → also common and neutral; often a bit stronger in everyday speech.
- zeer dapper → more formal or written style, or used for strong emphasis in careful speech.
So you could also say:
- hij is soms heel dapper (very natural)
- hij is soms zeer dapper (sounds more formal or serious)
No, they are false friends.
- In Dutch, dapper means brave or courageous. You can say it about children and adults:
- Dat was heel dapper van je. → That was very brave of you.
- In English, dapper mainly means neatly dressed or smart-looking, especially for men.
So when you see hij is erg dapper in Dutch, think he is very brave, not well dressed.