Hoe heet deze straat eigenlijk?

this

Breakdown of Hoe heet deze straat eigenlijk?

• hoe: how
• de straat: the street
• eigenlijk: actually

Questions & Answers about Hoe heet deze straat eigenlijk?

Why does Dutch use hoe here? Shouldn’t it be wat for what?

In Dutch, when you ask for someone’s or something’s name, you usually use hoe with the verb heten:

• Hoe heet je? = What’s your name?
• Hoe heet deze straat? = What is this street called?

So although hoe normally means how, in this pattern it corresponds to English what … called.

A very literal word-for-word translation would sound strange in English, but in Dutch it is completely normal.

What does heet mean here?

Heet is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb heten, which means to be called / to have the name.

So:

• ik heet = I am called
• jij heet / je heet = you are called
• hij heet = he is called
• deze straat heet = this street is called

Be careful: heet can also be an adjective meaning hot.

• De soep is heet. = The soup is hot.
• De straat heet Damrak. = The street is called Damrak.

In your sentence, heet is a verb, not an adjective.