De lift was te smal voor de kast.

to be

Breakdown of De lift was te smal voor de kast.

• voor: for
• te: too
• de kast: the cupboard

Questions & Answers about De lift was te smal voor de kast.

Why is it de lift and not het lift?

Lift is a de-word in Dutch, so the correct article is de: de lift.

A useful habit is to learn each noun together with its article:

• de lift = the elevator
• de kast = the cupboard / wardrobe / cabinet

For many nouns, especially borrowed words like lift, the article just has to be memorized.

What does te mean here?

Here te means too, not English to.

So:

• te smal = too narrow

It shows that something exceeds a limit in a negative way.

Compare:

• smal = narrow
• heel smal = very narrow
• te smal = too narrow

So the sentence means the elevator was not just narrow, but more narrow than was acceptable for the wardrobe.

Why is it smal and not smalle?