Family and a pet at home | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Woon je met je familie?

   Do you live with family?

   Woon

   live

   je

   you

   met

   with

   je

   your

   familie

   family

   More detail

   Woon is the present-tense form of wonen, “to live.” In this yes/no question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Woon je ...? means “Do you live ...?” The same form appears with ik in a statement: Ik woon met mijn kind. — “I live with my child.” The word order, rather than a special question ending on the verb, marks the question here. The first je is the informal singular subject pronoun “you.” Its position after woon is part of the Dutch yes/no-question pattern. Example: Woon je hier? — “Do you live here?” met means “with” and introduces the person or group someone lives with in this context. Example: Ik woon met mijn kind. — “I live with my child.” The second je is a possessive determiner meaning “your”; it modifies familie. Thus, unlike the first je, it does not name the subject of the sentence. Example: Waar is je kind? — “Where is your child?” familie means “family.” Together with the preceding je, it forms je familie, “your family.” The utterance combines the yes/no pattern Verb + je + ...? with met je familie (“with your family”). Its complete meaning is “Do you live with family?”; the Dutch possessive je makes the addressee’s family explicit.

2. Ik woon met mijn kind.

   I live with my child.

   Ik

   I

   woon

   live

   met

   with

   mijn

   my

   kind

   child

   More detail

   Ik is the first-person singular subject pronoun: “I.” It is the form used when the speaker refers to themself. For example, Ik werk. means “I work.” woon is the present-tense form of wonen (“to live”) for ik. A useful pattern is ik woon; with jij/je, the form is je woont, while wij wonen uses the plural form. Here, woon describes the speaker’s living situation. met means “with” and introduces the person or thing accompanying someone. For example, Ik werk met mijn broer. means “I work with my brother.” mijn is the possessive determiner “my.” In Dutch, mijn is used with both singular and plural nouns and does not change according to the noun’s grammatical gender: mijn kind (“my child”) and mijn kinderen (“my children”). kind means “child.” Its plural is kinderen, so mijn kind is singular, while mijn kinderen is plural. Kind is a neuter Dutch noun. With the definite article, it takes het: het kind means “the child”; with the indefinite article, it takes een: een kind means “a child.” Together, met mijn kind means “with my child.” The complete structure is Ik woon + met mijn kind: the speaker says that they live with their child. The present tense presents this as their living situation.

3. Is er thuis ook een huisdier?

   Is there a pet at home too?

   Is er

   is there

   thuis

   at home

   ook

   too

   huisdier

   pet

   More detail

   Is er is the Dutch existential question pattern “is there …?” It places is before er in this question. Here er is an existential subject-like element, not a word meaning “there” in the location sense. Compare the reusable pattern Is er een probleem? — “Is there a problem?” thuis means “at home” and refers to being in one’s home or household setting. It is an adverb, so it does not change for number or gender. Example: Ben je thuis? — “Are you at home?” ook means “too” or “also.” It adds this question to another relevant possibility or situation; it does not itself identify what that other possibility is. Example: Heb je ook een fiets? — “Do you also have a bicycle?” huisdier means “pet,” an animal kept as a companion. It is a noun formed from huis (“house/home”) and dier (“animal”), but in this sentence it functions as one noun. Its plural is huisdieren — “pets.” Example: Een kat kan een huisdier zijn. — “A cat can be a pet.” Together, Is er asks whether something exists or is present, thuis specifies the home setting, ook adds the meaning “too,” and een huisdier supplies the thing being asked about. The complete utterance therefore means “Is there a pet at home too?” The indefinite article een introduces a nonspecific pet; it does not by itself assert a particular numeric count.

4. We hebben een kleine hond.

   We have a small dog.

   We

   we

   hebben

   have

   kleine

   small

   hond

   dog

   More detail

   We is the subject pronoun “we.” It refers to the speaker together with at least one other person, but the sentence does not identify who the other person is. Dutch subject pronouns include ik (“I”), jij/je (“you,” singular), and wij/we (“we”). We is the unstressed, very common form; wij can give stronger contrast or emphasis. hebben means “have” here. Its base form is hebben; in the present tense, we hebben is the first-person plural form. Compare ik heb (“I have”) with we hebben (“we have”). The form hebben can also be an infinitive, as in We willen een hond hebben (“We want to have a dog”), but here it is the finite present-tense verb. kleine describes the dog as small. The base form is klein (“small”). In een kleine hond, the adjective has -e because hond is a singular common-gender noun and the adjective is attributive after the indefinite article. With a singular neuter noun after een, the adjective normally has no -e: een klein huis means “a small house.” The comparative is kleiner (“smaller”); the superlative is kleinst predicatively and kleinste before a noun, as in de kleinste hond (“the smallest dog”). hond is the noun “dog.” Its plural is honden (“dogs”). Here, een forms an indefinite noun phrase; the sentence presents the dog as a non-specific member of its category, without making a separate numeric claim through the article alone. Together, we hebben gives “we have,” and een kleine hond gives “a small dog.” Thus the whole utterance means “We have a small dog.”

5. Kunnen ze goed met elkaar opschieten?

   How do they get along?

   Kunnen ze

   can they

   goed

   well

   met elkaar opschieten

   get along with each other

   More detail

   Kunnen ze means “can they?” Here kunnen is the present-tense form used with the plural subject ze; the same word is also the infinitive “to be able to.” In a Dutch main-clause question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Kunnen ze ...? This asks about the participants’ ability or possibility in the situation, not physical ability. goed means “well” here. It is an adverb describing how they get along. Dutch goed can also be an adjective meaning “good” when it describes a noun, but that is a different role. Example: Ze werken goed samen. — “They work well together.” met elkaar opschieten is a reusable expression meaning “get along with each other.” opschieten is the infinitive after kunnen, and met elkaar expresses the reciprocal relation. Example: De buren schieten goed met elkaar op. — “The neighbors get along well with each other.” Together, Kunnen ze + goed + met elkaar opschieten? forms a yes/no question about whether the participants get along well. In the supplied translation, the natural English rendering is “How do they get along?” Ze is understood as plural “they” here; the fixed texts do not specify exactly who the participants are.

6. Ze spelen elke dag samen.

   They play together every day.

   Ze

   they

   spelen

   play

   elke dag

   every day

   samen

   together

   More detail

   Ze is the subject pronoun meaning “they” here, as confirmed by the fixed translation. Dutch ze can also mean singular “she” in another context; the translation identifies the plural reading in this sentence. The more emphatic form is zij, while ze is common in ordinary speech and writing. spelen is the present-tense form used with a plural subject, and its base form is also spelen (“to play”). Compare ik speel (“I play”) and hij speelt (“he plays”) with ze spelen (“they play”): the plural form has no -t. Example: We spelen buiten. — “We play outside.” elke dag means “every day.” Elke is the form of elk used before the singular common-gender noun dag; the noun’s plural is dagen. This expression functions as a frequency phrase. Example: Zij leest elke dag. — “She reads every day.” Samen means “together”: it describes people doing something jointly. Example: De kinderen werken samen. — “The children work together.” Together, Ze spelen gives “they play,” samen adds that they do so jointly, and elke dag gives the repeated time pattern. The complete utterance therefore means “They play together every day.”