"Wij lezen een oud boek."

Translation: We are reading an old book.

[skytop101]

Why would the 'e' at the end of oud be dropped in this case? Is it because "boek" takes the definite article "het" ?

[Luis_Domingos]

It's because it's a het-word, but one which is not being defined (having the "Het" right before it):

• De brug - De oude brug - Een oude brug
• Het huis - Het oude huis - Een oud huis

[skytop101]

Thanks!

[Ekat3551]

Hey, can anyone explain to me why "We lezen een oud boek" is wrong?

[MentalPinball]

If you were doing a listening/dictation exercise, then probably the voice had said "wij" (sounds kind of like "way"). The "e" in "we" sounds a bit like the one in "the" (or as if you were saying "wuh").

[P_Azul]

The latter also known as a "schwa". (It's a sound that's quite common in Dutch.)

[Hobbit22.9]

why would it not be oude?

[El2theK]

• Het boek - het oude boek - een oud boek
• De pen - de oude pen - een oude pen

As already explained above by Luis

[hernanday]

Why is the een word silent here?

[P_Azul]

If you're asking about the difference between "Wij lezen een oud boek." and "Wij lezen één oud boek.":

• "Wij lezen een oud boek.": Here "een" is the indefinite article; it's pronounce with a schwa (vowel with no specific sound). We're reading an old book.

• "Wij lezen één oud boek.": Here "één" is the number (one); it's pronounced /eːn/, similar to English "vain" without the 'v'. We are reading one old book. The accents are written when it's not clear from the structure of the sentence that it can't be the article "een". (Of course, accents are also written when the word is stressed, usually that too happens for the number, not for the article.)

If that's not your question, could you elaborate a bit more?