Explaining damage to a borrowed bag | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ik moet je iets vertellen over de tas die ik heb geleend.

   I need to tell you something about the bag I borrowed.

   Ik moet

   I need to

   je

   you

   iets

   something

   vertellen

   tell

   over

   about

   tas

   bag

   die

   that/which

   geleend

   borrowed

   More detail

   Ik moet expresses present necessity: “I need to” or “I must.” moet is the present-tense form of moeten for ik, and a following infinitive names the necessary action. Here that infinitive is vertellen. Example: Ik moet werken. — “I need to work.” je is the unstressed object pronoun meaning “you” here: the person being told something. Dutch also uses jou as a stressed form, for example when contrasting or emphasizing the object; je is the ordinary neutral form in this sentence. iets is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something.” It refers to an unspecified thing, not to a stated quantity. It can also be used in patterns such as iets eten — “eat something.” vertellen is the infinitive “to tell.” With a person and information, Dutch commonly uses the pattern iemand iets vertellen: “to tell someone something.” Example: Ik vertel je een verhaal. — “I am telling you a story.” In the fixed sentence, je is the person receiving the information and iets is the unspecified information. over means “about” when it introduces the subject of information or discussion. The following noun phrase is de tas, so over de tas means “about the bag.” This is different from spatial uses of over, such as movement over something. tas means “bag.” Its plural is tassen. In this sentence it appears as the singular noun phrase de tas; de is the definite article, while tas itself carries no visible number marking here. Example: De tas is zwaar. — “The bag is heavy.” die begins the relative clause die ik heb geleend, which identifies the bag as the one the speaker borrowed. For a singular de-word such as de tas, Dutch uses die as the relative pronoun; dat is used with a singular het-word. The choice is determined by the noun’s article class and number, not simply by its physical gender. Example: Ik zie de fiets die je hebt gekocht. — “I see the bicycle that you bought.” geleend is the past participle of lenen, “to borrow.” The complete form here is heb geleend: heb, the present form of hebben with ik, combines with the participle to express a completed past action. The relative clause literally has the structure “that I have borrowed,” while the natural English translation uses “that I borrowed.” Example: Ik heb een boek geleend. — “I borrowed a book.” Together, Ik moet ... vertellen gives the necessity, je iets vertellen gives the person and unspecified information, and over de tas specifies the topic. The relative clause die ik heb geleend identifies which bag is meant. The whole utterance therefore means: “I need to tell you something about the bag I borrowed.”

2. Is er tijdens je reis iets mee gebeurd?

   Did something happen to it during your trip?

   Is er

   is there ...?

   tijdens

   during

   je

   your

   reis

   trip

   iets

   something

   mee gebeurd

   happened to it

   More detail

   Is er starts a yes/no question. In Dutch, is is the present-tense form of zijn for singular hij/zij/het, and er is the existential “there” used to introduce something whose existence or occurrence is being asked about. Here, however, the full pattern Is er ... gebeurd? asks whether an event occurred, not whether a location exists. tijdens means “during” and introduces the period in which something happens. It is a preposition: tijdens de reis = “during the trip.” je means “your” here. It is the possessive form related to jij/je (“you”), and it does not change for the gender or number of the possessed noun in this phrase. reis is the noun “trip” or “journey.” Its base form is reis; the plural is reizen. With je, je reis means “your trip.” iets is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something.” It refers to an unspecified thing, rather than naming the thing directly. For example, Ik hoor iets. means “I hear something.” mee gebeurd contains the past participle gebeurd, from the verb gebeuren (“to happen”). The simple past participle is used with zijn: het is gebeurd = “it has happened” or “it happened.” The form gebeurd itself does not show who or what the event concerns. Mee adds the relation “to it” in this construction: Wat is ermee gebeurd? = “What happened to it?” Together, Is er iets mee gebeurd? is a reusable way to ask whether something happened to an already identifiable object. In this fixed context, the translation identifies that object as “it,” referring to the bag mentioned in the supplied context. Tijdens je reis places the possible event in time, so the complete utterance means: “Did something happen to it during your trip?”

3. De rits liep vast en een deel ervan raakte los.

   The zipper got stuck, and part of it came loose.

   rits

   zipper

   liep vast

   got stuck

   deel

   part

   ervan

   of it

   raakte los

   came loose

   More detail

   rits means “zipper” here. It is a noun, and de is its definite article in this sentence. Example: De rits is kapot. — “The zipper is broken.” liep vast expresses “got stuck” in this sentence. liep is the past-tense form of lopen (“to walk; to run”), but with vast this combination describes something becoming unable to move smoothly; it is not about a person walking. The subject is de rits, so the zipper is what got stuck. Example: De lade liep vast. — “The drawer got stuck.” deel means “part” or “portion.” It is a noun; in een deel it is introduced by the indefinite article een. That article does not by itself state a numerical count. Example: Een deel is weg. — “Part of it is gone.” ervan means “of it” here. It is a compact form built from er and van, used to refer back to something already understood. In this sentence, the wording and context support understanding een deel ervan as “part of the zipper.” In another context, the same form can refer to a different previously mentioned thing; its referent comes from context. raakte los means “came loose.” raakte is the past-tense form of raken (“to become; to get”), and los describes the resulting state of being loose or detached. Example: De knop raakte los. — “The button came loose.” The sentence joins the two past events with en (“and”): De rits liep vast says that the zipper got stuck, and een deel ervan raakte los says that part of the zipper came loose. Thus the complete meaning is “The zipper got stuck, and part of it came loose.”

4. Was de rits al beschadigd?

   Was the zipper already damaged?

   Was

   was

   de rits

   the zipper

   al

   already

   beschadigd

   damaged

   More detail

   Was is the past-tense singular form of zijn (“to be”). In this question, inversion places Was before the subject: Was de rits ...? = “Was the zipper ...?” The past form locates the state in the past; it is not the past form of “damage.” de rits means “the zipper.” Rits is a common-gender Dutch noun, so its definite article is de. The article identifies a specific zipper in the situation; it does not itself express a number beyond the singular noun form here. al means “already.” It asks whether the damaged state was present by the relevant past point. Dutch al can also mean “all” in other constructions, but that is not its meaning in this sentence. beschadigd means “damaged.” It is the past participle of beschadigen (“to damage”), and here it functions as a description of the zipper’s state after zijn: zijn + beschadigd = “be damaged.” A participle can also occur in other constructions, such as De rits is beschadigd (“The zipper is damaged”), where is is the present form of zijn. Together, Was + de rits forms a past-tense yes/no question. al places the state before or by a relevant past point, and beschadigd describes that state: “Was the zipper already damaged?” The utterance asks whether the zipper had already been damaged; it does not itself state the answer.

5. Of ging hij kapot toen je hem gebruikte?

   Or did it break while you were using it?

   Of

   Or

   ging … kapot

   broke

   hij

   it

   toen

   while

   je

   you

   hem

   it

   gebruikte

   used

   More detail

   Of introduces an alternative: “or.” At the start of this question, it connects the question to an earlier possibility. In a Dutch main-question pattern, the finite verb comes before the subject: ging hij ...?. ging kapot is the past form of the fixed expression kapotgaan / gaan ... kapot, meaning “to break” or “to stop working.” Here ging is the past-tense form of gaan; kapot describes the resulting broken state. The subject is hij, whose intended referent here is the zipper identified by the surrounding context and the translation. Example: Mijn telefoon ging kapot. — “My phone broke.” hij is a third-person singular pronoun. In this utterance it refers to the zipper; Dutch uses this form for the intended singular referent here. The pronoun’s grammatical form and its contextual referent are separate facts: the form itself means “he” or “it” depending on context, while the fixed translation and surrounding exchange establish “it” here. toen introduces a time clause, commonly translated as “when” for a completed event in the past. It links the breaking to the time of the other action: the breaking happened while the use was taking place. Example: Toen ik thuiskwam, regende het. — “When I came home, it was raining.” je is the informal second-person singular pronoun, “you.” In je gebruikte it is the subject of the time clause. Dutch je can also be an unstressed form of “you” in other positions, but its role here is the subject because it performs the action of using. hem is the third-person singular object pronoun, “him” or “it.” Here it refers to the same item as hij, namely the zipper, and is the object of gebruikte: the person was using the zipper. The form changes with grammatical role: hij is used as a subject, while hem is used as an object. Example: Ik zie hem. — “I see him/it.” gebruikte is the simple past form of gebruiken, “to use.” It describes the ongoing or relevant past action in the time clause; je is the person doing the using. Example: Je gebruikte de sleutel. — “You used the key.” Together, Of ging hij kapot asks whether the item broke, and toen je hem gebruikte places that possible breaking during the time when you were using it. The complete meaning is: “Or did it break while you were using it?”

6. De rits leek eerder in orde, dus ik wil verantwoordelijkheid nemen.

   It seemed fine before, so I want to take responsibility.

   rits

   zipper

   leek

   seemed

   eerder

   before; earlier

   in orde

   fine; in order

   dus

   so

   ik wil

   I want to

   verantwoordelijkheid

   responsibility

   nemen

   to take

   More detail

   rits means “zipper” here. It is a common-gender Dutch noun; its definite form is de rits, as in this sentence. Example: De rits is kapot. — “The zipper is broken.” leek is the past-tense singular form of lijken, “to seem.” It presents something as an impression rather than a definite fact. The present form is lijkt; for example, Het lijkt goed. means “It seems good.” eerder is a time adverb meaning “earlier” or “before.” Here it refers to an earlier point in time, without specifying exactly when. Example: Ik heb hem eerder gezien. — “I saw him before.” in orde is a fixed adjective phrase meaning “fine,” “all right,” or “in working order.” With leek, it describes how the zipper appeared at that earlier time: De rits leek in orde — “The zipper seemed fine.” dus connects a preceding situation with its consequence: “so” or “therefore.” It introduces the conclusion that follows from the speaker’s earlier assessment. ik wil combines the first-person singular pronoun ik, “I,” with wil, the present singular form of willen, “to want.” Wil expresses the speaker’s present intention. Dutch normally places the following infinitive at the end of this main clause: Ik wil helpen. — “I want to help.” verantwoordelijkheid is the noun “responsibility.” The phrase verantwoordelijkheid nemen is a reusable combination meaning “to take responsibility,” rather than physically taking an object. Example: Zij neemt verantwoordelijkheid. — “She takes responsibility.” nemen is the infinitive “to take.” In ik wil verantwoordelijkheid nemen, it follows wil and names the intended action. Its present-tense form is irregular: ik neem — “I take.” Together, De rits leek eerder in orde says that the zipper appeared to be fine earlier. dus links that assessment to the speaker’s intention, ik wil verantwoordelijkheid nemen: “I want to take responsibility.” The complete utterance means: “The zipper seemed fine before, so I want to take responsibility.”

7. Ik waardeer je eerlijkheid. Misschien is de rits nog te repareren.

   I appreciate your honesty. It may still be repairable.

   waardeer

   appreciate

   je

   your

   eerlijkheid

   honesty

   Misschien

   perhaps

   de rits

   the zipper

   nog

   still

   te repareren

   to repair; repairable

   More detail

   waardeer is the first-person singular present form of waarderen, “to appreciate.” With ik, the pattern is ik waardeer ... = “I appreciate ...”. The form expresses the speaker’s present evaluation; the subject ik is the form that determines the first-person agreement. je means “your” here and belongs with the following noun: je eerlijkheid = “your honesty.” Dutch je can have other functions in other contexts, but in this utterance it is the possessive form identifying whose honesty is meant. eerlijkheid means “honesty.” It is a noun related to eerlijk, “honest,” and the ending -heid commonly forms an abstract noun describing a quality. For example, Haar eerlijkheid helpt means “Her honesty helps.” Misschien means “perhaps” or “maybe.” It presents the following possibility without asserting it as certain. It is an adverb and does not itself identify who is responsible for the possible repair. de rits means “the zipper.” Rits is a noun that takes the definite article de; the article marks this as a definite zipper in the situation, while the noun supplies the object being discussed. nog means “still” here. It indicates that the possibility remains at the relevant point in time: the zipper may still be repairable. Its meaning combines with the repairability construction rather than meaning “again” in this sentence. te repareren contains repareren, the infinitive “to repair,” after te. In is te repareren, this is a Dutch construction meaning “is repairable” or “can be repaired”: the zipper is understood as the thing that could undergo the repair. Compare the ordinary purpose-like infinitive om de rits te repareren, “to repair the zipper,” where te repareren describes the action someone may carry out. Together, Ik waardeer je eerlijkheid means “I appreciate your honesty.” Then Misschien is de rits nog te repareren means “Perhaps the zipper is still repairable.” The complete utterance is therefore: “I appreciate your honesty. It may still be repairable.”

8. Ik kan de reparatie regelen of de tas vervangen als dat nodig is.

   I can arrange the repair or replace the bag if needed.

   Ik kan

   I can

   de reparatie

   the repair

   regelen

   arrange

   of

   or

   de tas

   the bag

   vervangen

   replace

   als dat nodig is

   if that is needed

   More detail

   Ik kan means “I can.” kan is the present-tense form of kunnen with ik; it expresses ability or possibility here. After a modal verb such as kan, the other verb stays in the infinitive and comes later in the clause. Example: Ik kan helpen. — “I can help.” de reparatie means “the repair.” reparatie is a noun; its plural is reparaties. The article de belongs to the noun phrase and identifies a specific repair in this situation. Example: De reparatie duurt lang. — “The repair takes a long time.” regelen means “arrange” or “take care of.” It is the infinitive used after kan; its present-tense forms include ik regel and hij regelt. Example: Ik regel de afspraak. — “I will arrange the appointment.” of means “or.” It connects the two alternatives in this sentence: arranging the repair and replacing the bag. de tas means “the bag.” tas is a noun with plural tassen, so de tas is singular and de tassen is plural. Example: De tas is zwaar. — “The bag is heavy.” vervangen means “replace.” It is an infinitive here, coordinated with regelen after kan: Ik kan ... regelen of ... vervangen. The present-tense form with ik is ik vervang; with hij/zij it is hij vervangt. Example: We vervangen de oude tas. — “We replace the old bag.” als dat nodig is means “if that is needed” or, naturally here, “if needed.” als introduces a condition. dat is a neuter singular demonstrative pronoun meaning “that”; the fixed sentence does not identify a more specific noun that it refers to. nodig means “needed” or “necessary,” and is is the present-tense form of zijn with dat. Example: Ik kom als dat nodig is. — “I will come if that is needed.” Together, Ik kan de reparatie regelen says “I can arrange the repair.” of de tas vervangen adds the alternative “or replace the bag.” The conditional als dat nodig is limits the alternatives with “if needed.” The whole utterance therefore means: “I can arrange the repair or replace the bag if needed.”

9. Laten we hem eerst naar een reparatiewinkel brengen voordat we beslissen.

   Let's take it to a repair shop before deciding.

   Laten we

   let’s

   hem

   it

   eerst

   first

   reparatiewinkel

   repair shop

   brengen

   bring; take

   voordat

   before

   beslissen

   decide

   More detail

   Laten we introduces a suggestion or proposal involving the speaker and others: “let’s …”. It is followed here by the infinitive brengen, without te. Compare Laten we gaan. — “Let’s go.” This construction does not by itself specify how many other people are included. hem is the singular object form used here for “it.” In Dutch, hem can refer to a masculine person or to a singular common-gender de-word when it is the object; het is used for a neuter het-word. In this context, the pronoun refers to the item that is to be taken to the shop, matching the fixed translation’s “it” and the repair context. Example: Ik zie hem. — “I see him/it,” when the referent calls for the object form hem. eerst means “first” or “before anything else.” It orders this action ahead of the later decision. Example: Lees dit eerst. — “Read this first.” reparatiewinkel is a compound noun: reparatie means “repair” and winkel means “shop/store.” Dutch commonly forms nouns like this by combining words into one written compound. Here it is the destination after naar: naar een reparatiewinkel means “to a repair shop.” Example: De fiets staat bij een reparatiewinkel. — “The bicycle is at a repair shop.” brengen is the infinitive meaning “to bring” or, with a destination, “to take [someone or something] somewhere.” The construction iets naar een plaats brengen means to take something to a place. Its past tense is bracht and its past participle is gebracht: We brachten de fiets naar de winkel. — “We took the bicycle to the shop.” voordat is a conjunction meaning “before” and introduces an action that has not yet happened at the relevant point. It connects the taking action with the later decision. In the clause after voordat, the finite verb comes at the end: voordat we beslissen — “before we decide.” beslissen is the infinitive “to decide.” With the subject we, the present-tense form is also beslissen: we beslissen. Example: We beslissen morgen. — “We’ll decide tomorrow.” Together, Laten we hem eerst ... brengen proposes taking the item first. naar een reparatiewinkel gives the destination, and voordat we beslissen places the decision afterward: “Let’s take it to a repair shop before we decide.”

10. Het spijt me dat ik het je niet meteen heb verteld toen het gebeurde.

    I'm sorry I didn't tell you as soon as it happened.

    Het spijt me

    I'm sorry

    niet meteen

    not immediately

    heb verteld

    have told

    toen

    when

    gebeurde

    happened

    More detail

    Het spijt me is a fixed Dutch way to say “I’m sorry.” Literally, spijt expresses regret, with me referring to the speaker; Dutch uses this construction rather than a form matching English I am. It can be followed by dat plus the situation being regretted. niet meteen means that the action did not happen immediately. meteen is a useful adverb meaning “immediately” or “straightaway”; adding niet negates it. For example: Ik kom meteen. — “I’m coming immediately.” heb verteld is the Dutch perfect construction for “have told” or, as here, “told.” heb is the present-tense form of hebben used with the subject ik, and verteld is the past participle of vertellen (“to tell”). In a subordinate clause, the auxiliary and participle occur together at the end here, with heb verteld following the object words het je. The reusable pattern is ik heb ... verteld — “I have told ...” or “I told ...” depending on the English context. toen introduces the time at which something happened: “when” or “at the time that.” It connects the telling with the later clause het gebeurde, so the sentence refers to telling at the time of the event, not immediately after some unspecified action. gebeurde is the past-tense form of gebeuren, “to happen.” Here it occurs with het in het gebeurde, meaning “it happened.” The form gebeurde is the simple past; the subject is het, and the sentence does not specify more precisely what the event was. Together, dat ik het je niet meteen heb verteld means “that I didn’t tell you immediately.” In this clause, het is the thing that was told, and je is the person told; the fixed translation identifies that person as “you.” toen het gebeurde adds “when it happened,” with het referring to the event understood from the context. The complete structure is Het spijt me dat ...: “I’m sorry that ...” Thus the whole utterance means: “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as soon as it happened.”

11. Je hebt het nu ter sprake gebracht en dat helpt. We zullen zien wat ze zeggen.

    You brought it up now, and that helps. We'll see what they say.

    Je hebt

    you have

    nu

    now

    ter sprake gebracht

    brought up

    helpt

    helps

    We zullen

    we will

    zien

    see

    wat

    what

    ze

    they

    zeggen

    say

    More detail

    Je hebt uses hebben as the auxiliary in the perfect: je hebt means “you have.” Here, hebt is the present-tense form used with second-person singular je; the completed action is expressed by the auxiliary together with the past participle later in the clause. The same words can also mean “you have” in the possession sense, but that is not the meaning here. nu means “now” and places the action at the current point in the situation. ter sprake gebracht belongs to the reusable expression iets ter sprake brengen, “to bring something up” or “to raise a subject.” gebracht is the past participle of brengen (“to bring”). In the perfect, hebben and gebracht can be separated by other words: hebt ... gebracht. Example: Ik heb het ter sprake gebracht — “I brought it up.” helpt comes from helpen, “to help.” It is the present-tense form used with a third-person singular subject; here, dat refers to the action just mentioned. Compare ik help — “I help” — with het helpt — “it helps.” We zullen combines we (“we”) with zullen, which expresses a future expectation or intention here. zullen is the form used with we; the following infinitive commonly comes later in the clause. Example: We zullen wachten — “We will wait.” zien means “to see.” After zullen, it remains an infinitive: zullen zien means “will see.” Here, “see” has the extended sense “find out.” wat means “what” and introduces the content of the following clause: “what they say.” It is used here in an embedded question or content clause, not as a standalone direct question. ze means “they” here, as confirmed by the fixed translation. Dutch ze can also represent unstressed “she” in other contexts, but that is not the intended reading here. The form itself does not mark the number of the people meant by “they.” zeggen comes from zeggen, “to say.” In wat ze zeggen, it is the present-tense form used with the plural subject ze. It has the same spelling as the infinitive zeggen, but its role here is finite: it agrees with ze as the subject of the clause. Together, Je hebt het nu ter sprake gebracht means “You brought it up now”: hebt ... gebracht expresses the completed action, while ter sprake brengen supplies the meaning “bring up.” en dat helpt adds “and that helps,” with dat referring to the action just described. We zullen zien wat ze zeggen means “We’ll see what they say”: zullen zien expresses what will happen, and wat ze zeggen specifies what will be found out. The complete utterance is therefore “You brought it up now, and that helps. We’ll see what they say.”