Tutorial
In Course: Dutch A2

Replacing Counted Items with Er

Master the spoken use of quantitative er in Dutch to replace counted nouns when combined with cardinal numerals and everyday quantifiers.

A close-up, top-down photograph of a small, artfully arranged stack of four golden-brown stroopwafels on a rustic wooden table, with one stroopwafel slightly separated from the stack, as if just taken or being counted. Warm, soft natural light illuminates the scene, evoking a cozy Dutch home.
en-GB → nl-NL

Management & Tools

Deck Contents

36 Cards
Lesson#1
In this deck, you will learn how to replace counted things using the little Dutch word 'er'. In spoken Dutch, when you drop a noun after a number or a quantity word, you cannot leave the count by itself. You use 'er' as a placeholder to make your Dutch sound completely natural.
Lesson#2
When you answer a question about quantity and you do not repeat the noun, Dutch requires 'er'. In English, you can say 'I have two', but in Dutch, you must say 'Ik heb er twee', which literally means 'I have two of them'. The word 'er' sits directly after the verb.
Quiz#3
Translate into Dutch: 'I have two.'

Ik heb er twee

Quiz#4
Translate into Dutch: 'She has three.'

Zij heeft er drie

Quiz#5
Translate into Dutch: 'The house has four.'

Het huis heeft er vier

Lesson#6
You can use this same pattern with other verbs such as 'kopen', to buy, or 'willen', to want. With compound tenses or polite requests, 'er' still stays right after the finite verb in second position. For example, 'Ik heb er drie gekocht' means 'I bought three', and 'Ik wil er graag twee' means 'I would like two'.

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