"De banaan is ons enige eten."
Translation:The banana is our only food.
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Why isn't it: "De banaan is ons enig eten", then? ("enige" without the E)
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but there isn't any plural word..... and "eten" is a "het-word"... so why "enige"??
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- een enig eten
- het enige eten
- so maybe "ons" makes the noun definite like in the case with "het". And so it's used with "e" at the end...
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OHH that's right!! we add an "e" if there is a demonstrative or possessive pronoun like:
- deze oude hond - this old dog
- dit oude huis - this old house
- mijn oude hond - my old dog
- mijn oude huis - my old house
So thanks Le_Nhat :D
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That's a good explanation, Le_Nhat! However, "een enig eten" is grammatically incorrect, because the article een can't be used with uncountable nouns (e.g. eten, water, geld).
If you want to refer to "a small amount of food": wat eten, wat voedsel... alright? :-)
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Yes, I already thought it sounds strange when I wrote it and probably not correct (uncountable/countable noun, as you said), but I just wanted to make the point between "een"-"het" and "ons" ^^
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I think because in this case, "ons eten" is a definite noun group (just like when we use "het eten"). So, it should be "ons enige eten" :-)
- Enkel(e) - not more than 1 (for singular) - _een enkel huis - a single house
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Enkele - is few in number (for plural) - _enkele huizen - a few houses
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Enig(e) - there is no second one of it (singular) - het enige huis - the only house
- Enige - the same as the singular but than to address a group (plural) - de enige huizen - the only houses
These are all adjectives, so as an adjective enkel(e) = single/a few, Enig(e) = only.
As an adverb enkel can also mean only, and as an indefinite pronoun enig can mean single/a few.
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Why is 'meal' not accepted here? As in 'Please leave that banana there, it is our only meal.' Thanks.
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Sorry, I don't get it. If DE and HET make the difference, why is the correct answer to this ONS whet it is DE banaan?
Because ons is used with words that use het and onze is used with words that use de.
- De banaan is het eten - The banana is the food
- De banaan is ons eten - The banana is our food
- Onze banaan is het eten - Our banana is the food