Breakdown of De bibliotheek is links van de winkel.
zijn
to be
de winkel
the store
van
of
de bibliotheek
the library
Questions & Answers about De bibliotheek is links van de winkel.
Why do both nouns use de?
Because bibliotheek and winkel are both de-words in Dutch.
- de bibliotheek
- de winkel
In Dutch, singular nouns can take either de or het. There is no simple rule that always tells you which one a noun has, so you often need to learn it together with the noun.
A useful tip:
- plural nouns always take de
- diminutives always take het
So it is best to learn vocabulary as whole chunks, like de bibliotheek and de winkel, not just bibliotheek and winkel.
Why is the verb is in the second position?
Dutch main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule. That means the finite verb usually comes in position 2.
In this sentence:
De bibliotheek | is | links van de winkel
- position 1: De bibliotheek
- position 2: is
- then the rest of the sentence
This is very normal Dutch word order. English also often puts is early in the sentence, so this one feels fairly familiar.
Why do you say links van?