A couple of questions about this:
- What does it mean
2.what is the purpose of enig - Can I replace dat with het
Context: a customer was praising the bird in front of theshop.
note: I am not a native speaker, but I have been learning Dutch for quite some time.
In this context enig is an adjective meaning snoezig. They’re saying that the bird is really adorable.
They’re using beest to refer to a huisdier (pet). When addressing a dog, “Braaf beest” would be like, “Good boy” or “Good girl” or “Good doggy.”
And no, I wouldn’t replace dat with het. They are talking about that particular bird, so it is definitely dat beest, not het beest.
Dat beest, het is echt enig.
I wouldn’t try translating it literally into English. Since we know we’re talking about a bird (good on you for providing context), “Het is echt enig dat beest” would be something like, “Oh, that is such an adorable bird” in English. (Can’t help you with the German.)
By the way, I recall being told somewhere along the way that using enig in this way sounds rather bekakt (posh, snooty).
Het is echt enig. Enig!
I don’t know how true this is or how much it depends on the individual listener, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.
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I am a native speaker.
Enig (in this context) means adorable, lovely, cute, delightful, precious (in the sense of cute and special, not in the sense of valuable). It comes from the more literal meaning of unique, one of a kind (one=Ă©Ă©n).
Well, if you know the meaning, you know the purpose. You use the word when you want to express your enthusiasm about something. It doesn’t need to be about prettyness, it can be about quirkyness/other traits as well.
I would translate the sentence as “It is truly delightful, that bird” “It is a joy, that bird” “that bird is absolutely fabulous”.
I use the word bird here, because beest is usually a negative word but used affectionately here, so just translating it as beast or animal wouldnt do it justice. (The neutral word for animal is dier)
To translate it properly we need to know if she liked the looks or the behaviour of the bird. Or perhaps she just liked the fact there was a bird in front the shop. “How lovely, that bird” “It is really great, that bird” (that it is on display. In this sentence it is as ambiguous as the Dutch one, it isn’t entirely clear what the “it” refers to. )
No in this sentence you cant replace dat with het. She is expressing her feelings about this specific animal.
My German isnt all that great, but i can imagine toll might work here. “Es ist toll, das Tier”.
Hope this helped 