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- Topic: Dutch >
- "Ik geef hun een appel."
23 Comments
192
Hun = to them (indirect object) Hen = them (direct object) In our sentence them is indirect. I give them an apple = I give an apple to them, therefore hun is required.
214
No that is not correct. In Dutch "hun" is possesive. "Hen" you can use in combination with "aan". So it is: I give them the book is translated as Ik geef (aan) hen het boek. But it is it is their book!: Het is hun boek! The given sentence is grammatically incorrect Dutch (I am a native speaker and even a lot of Dutch do not use this correctly, so I understand the confusion).
429
could you use hun/hen as a gender neutral pronoun? if not is there anything else you could use for a neutral singular pronoun?
214
"Ik geef" is present tense and is translated as I give . "Ik gaf" is past tense and is translated as I gave.