Word
De kinderen zitten rustig in de klas.
Meaning
The children are sitting still in the classroom.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of De kinderen zitten rustig in de klas.
in
in
zitten
to sit
het kind
the child
de klas
the classroom
Questions & Answers about De kinderen zitten rustig in de klas.
Why is it de kinderen and not het kinderen?
Because kinderen is plural. In Dutch, all plural nouns take the article de, even if the singular noun is a het-word.
- singular: het kind = the child
- plural: de kinderen = the children
So even though kind is singular het, its plural is always de.
Why does kind become kinderen in the plural?
Kinderen is an irregular plural. You cannot just add -s or -en to get kinderen by a simple rule; this is just the correct plural form you need to learn.
- het kind = the child
- de kinderen = the children
Dutch has a number of common irregular plurals, and kind → kinderen is one of the most important ones.
What does zitten mean here? Does it literally mean to sit?