Signing up for a walking event | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hoeveel kost het om mee te doen aan de wandeltocht?

   How much does it cost to join the walking event?

   Hoeveel

   how much

   kost

   costs

   om mee te doen aan

   to take part in

   wandeltocht

   walking event

   More detail

   Hoeveel asks for an amount: “how much.” It is used here with a price or cost. For a count of separate items, Dutch uses hoeveel as well; the context determines whether the answer is an amount or a number. kost is the present-tense form of kosten, “to cost,” used with the singular subject het. The form agrees with het, not with the person asking the question. Compare Het kost vijf euro. — “It costs five euros.” With a plural subject, Dutch uses kosten, as in De kaartjes kosten vijf euro. — “The tickets cost five euros.” om mee te doen aan is a reusable way to express taking part in something: om + the infinitive construction mee te doen + aan and the activity or event. Meedoen is a separable verb meaning “to participate” or “to join in”; in this construction, its infinitive appears as mee te doen. Example: Ik betaal om mee te doen aan de wedstrijd. — “I pay to take part in the competition.” wandeltocht is a noun for an organized walk or walking event. Its first part, wandel-, is related to wandelen (“to walk”), and tocht can mean a trip or tour. The complete compound refers here to the event, not simply to any act of walking. Dutch compound nouns are written as one word here. Together, Hoeveel kost het asks for the price, and om mee te doen aan de wandeltocht specifies what that price is for. The complete utterance therefore means, “How much does it cost to join the walking event?”

2. Het is gratis voor inwoners van de stad.

   It is free for city residents.

   Het is

   It is

   gratis

   free

   inwoners

   residents

   de stad

   the city

   More detail

   Het is combines het, a third-person singular subject form, with is, the present-tense singular form of zijn (“to be”). Here it corresponds to “it is”; the fixed sentence does not explicitly identify what het refers to. The reusable pattern is Het is + description: Het is duidelijk. — “It is clear.” gratis means “free” here, in the sense of costing no money. It is a descriptive adjective used after zijn; in this position it does not receive an adjective ending. Example: De toegang is gratis. — “Admission is free.” inwoners means “residents” here. Its base form is the singular noun inwoner; inwoners is the plural. Example: Een inwoner wacht. — “A resident is waiting.” de stad means “the city.” stad is the singular noun, and de is its definite article. The plural of stad is steden (“cities”), with a vowel change in the noun. In van de stad, van connects the residents with the city: they are residents of the city. Together, voor inwoners van de stad means “for city residents.” voor marks the group for whom the condition applies, and van de stad specifies the relevant residents. The complete utterance therefore means: “It is free for city residents.”

3. We willen ons samen inschrijven.

   We would like to sign up together.

   We

   we

   willen

   would like; want

   ons

   ourselves

   samen

   together

   inschrijven

   sign up; register

   More detail

   We is the first-person plural subject pronoun: “we.” It refers to the speakers, who are the people wanting to register. The same form is used as the subject whether the group is all male, all female, or mixed. willen is the present-tense form of willen for we and means “want.” With an infinitive, it expresses what someone wants to do: We willen leren. — “We want to learn.” In this sentence, the fixed translation uses the polite English equivalent “would like,” but the Dutch form itself is the present form of willen, not an English-style conditional form. Other useful forms include ik wil (“I want”) and zij willen (“they want”). ons is the first-person plural reflexive pronoun. It refers back to the subject we in the action ons inschrijven: the speakers register themselves. Compare We wassen ons. — “We wash ourselves.” A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the affected participant are the same; it is not the possessive meaning “our” here. samen means “together.” It describes the manner or arrangement of the registration: the speakers do it together. It can be reused with other actions, for example We reizen samen. — “We travel together.” inschrijven is the infinitive meaning “to sign up” or “to register.” In this sentence it appears with the reflexive ons, because the speakers register themselves. Dutch also uses the separable form in a finite clause: We schrijven ons in. — “We register.” The infinitive keeps the parts together as inschrijven. Without the reflexive pronoun, inschrijven can instead be transitive, with someone or something being registered; therefore We willen inschrijven is not the equivalent of the fixed sentence’s “We would like to sign up.” Together, We willen ons samen inschrijven. means “We would like to sign up together.” The structure is we + willen + reflexive ons + samen + infinitive inschrijven: the speakers express their wish to register themselves as a group.

4. Schrijf jullie namen, adressen en telefoonnummers op dit formulier, alstublieft.

   Please write your names, addresses, and phone numbers on this form.

   Schrijf

   write

   jullie

   your (addressing more than one person)

   namen

   names

   adressen

   addresses

   telefoonnummers

   phone numbers

   op

   on

   dit

   this

   formulier

   form

   alstublieft

   please

   More detail

   Schrijf is the imperative of schrijven, “to write.” The imperative form is schrijf; it can address one person or several people, so its form does not itself show number. Here, jullie identifies the addressees as a group. jullie means “your” when possession belongs to the people being addressed, and it is also the second-person plural pronoun. It does not change for the gender or number of the thing possessed: jullie naam can mean “your name” when addressing several people, while jullie namen means “your names.” namen means “names” here. Its singular base form is naam, and namen is its plural form. Example: Schrijf je naam op. — “Write down your name.” adressen means “addresses.” Its singular base form is adres, and its plural is adressen. telefoonnummers means “phone numbers.” The singular compound is telefoonnummer, made from telefoon (“telephone”) and nummer (“number”); telefoonnummers is the plural of the whole compound. op means “on” here. It is the preposition in op dit formulier, which specifies the surface or document where the information should be written. This is different from the separable verb opschrijven, “to write down,” even though that verb can also place op after the verb in other sentence structures. In this sentence, op is followed by its noun phrase dit formulier, so the relevant pattern is op + a document or surface. dit means “this.” It is the demonstrative used with a singular neuter noun such as het formulier. Deze is used with singular common-gender nouns and with plural nouns, whereas dit is used with a singular neuter noun. formulier means “form.” Its definite article is het: het formulier. In dit formulier, the demonstrative identifies one particular form as “this form.” alstublieft is a polite “please.” It is written as one word in this expression and makes the request more polite without changing the requested action. Together, Schrijf introduces the request, jullie namen, adressen en telefoonnummers lists the information belonging to the people addressed, and op dit formulier says where to write it. The complete utterance means: “Please write your names, addresses, and phone numbers on this form.”

5. Moeten we ook een e-mailadres invullen?

   Should we add an email address too?

   Moeten we

   Should we

   ook

   too / as well

   een e-mailadres

   an email address

   invullen

   fill in

   More detail

   Moeten we is the question pattern “should/must we ...?” Here moeten is the present-tense form used with we; in a yes/no question, the verb comes before the subject: Moeten we ...? In a statement, the order is We moeten ... (“We should/must ...”). With moeten, the other verb stays in the infinitive: We moeten het formulier invullen. — “We have to fill in the form.” ook means “too” or “as well.” It adds this item to something already relevant, such as the names, addresses, and phone numbers mentioned in the surrounding context. Its position can affect emphasis, but here it naturally highlights that an email address is an additional item. een e-mailadres means “an email address.” e-mailadres is a compound noun. The article een marks an indefinite noun phrase; in this sentence it does not by itself assert a numerical count of one. Dutch nouns have grammatical gender, but the article here does not show which gender applies. invullen means “to fill in” or “to enter” information on a form. It is a separable verb in ordinary finite main clauses: We vullen een e-mailadres in. — “We fill in an email address.” After the modal moeten, however, the infinitive remains together at the end: We moeten een e-mailadres invullen. Together, Moeten we ook een e-mailadres invullen? asks whether filling in an email address is required or expected in addition to the other requested information. The fixed meaning is: “Should we add an email address too?”

6. Dat deel is optioneel.

   That part is optional.

   Dat

   that

   deel

   part

   is

   is

   optioneel

   optional

   More detail

   Dat means “that” here and is a demonstrative determiner before the singular neuter noun deel. Dutch uses dit/dat with singular neuter nouns and deze/die with singular common-gender nouns; the pair also distinguishes nearer and more distant reference. Here, dat identifies the intended part as “that part,” but the fixed texts do not specify what larger whole it belongs to. deel means “part” and is a neuter noun: het deel. Its plural is delen. This gives a reusable noun pattern: een deel — “a part”; de delen — “the parts.” is is the third-person singular present form of zijn, “to be.” The pattern X is Y identifies or describes X: Het formulier is kort. — “The form is short.” optioneel means “optional.” It is a descriptive adjective used after is, so it describes dat deel. In this sentence, it says that the part is not required; it does not assert a particular number of items. Together, Dat deel is optioneel. has the pattern demonstrative + noun + zijn + adjective: “That part is optional.”

7. Wat stuurt u als we er een toevoegen?

   What will you send if we add one?

   Wat

   what

   stuurt

   send

   u

   you (formal)

   als we

   if we

   er

   to it

   een

   one

   toevoegen

   add

   More detail

   Wat is the question word “what.” Here it asks about the thing being sent, so it functions as the object of stuurt, not as the person doing the sending. A useful contrast is Wie stuurt u? (“Whom are you sending?”), where wie asks about a person. stuurt is the present-tense form of sturen (“to send”). With formal u, the verb has the same form as third-person singular: u stuurt. Dutch can use the present tense for a future action when the context makes that timing clear, so this question naturally corresponds to “What will you send?” The form itself is not a separate future tense. u is the formal second-person pronoun “you.” It is the subject here. The order Wat stuurt u...? places the question word first, then the finite verb, then the subject, as is typical in a Dutch question. als we introduces the condition “if we.” we is the first-person plural subject pronoun, “we.” For example, Als we wachten, komen ze later. means “If we wait, they will come later.” The als clause states the condition; it does not by itself specify whether the result is present or future. er refers to something understood from the context and, together with toevoegen, expresses adding something to the relevant context or item. Its exact referent is not identified in the supplied sentence. Dutch often uses er in this kind of context-dependent expression rather than repeating the thing being referred to. een means “one” here: one additional item of the relevant kind. It is written the same way as the indefinite article een (“a/an”), but its standalone use in er een toevoegen is supported by the fixed translation “add one.” toevoegen is the infinitive “to add.” It is a separable verb: in a finite main clause, its parts can appear as in We voegen er een toe (“We add one to it”), while the infinitive remains together in this subordinate clause: als we er een toevoegen. The form toevoegen itself carries no person or number marking here; we supplies the subject. Together, Wat stuurt u asks what the formal addressee will send, and als we er een toevoegen gives the condition “if we add one.” The complete meaning is therefore: “What will you send if we add one?”

8. We sturen het programma van het volgende evenement.

   We will send the schedule for the next event.

   We

   we

   sturen

   send

   programma

   schedule

   volgende

   next

   evenement

   event

   More detail

   We is the subject pronoun “we,” referring to the speakers as a group. Dutch keeps this form for the subject of a plural verb: we sturen means “we send” or, when the context makes it future, “we will send.” sturen is the base form “to send.” In we sturen, it is the present-tense plural form; Dutch commonly uses this present form for a planned or expected future action. The fixed translation identifies that future reading here. Compare Ik stuur het programma (“I send/am sending the schedule”) with We sturen het programma (“We send/are sending the schedule”). programma is a neuter noun meaning “program” or, in this context, “schedule.” Its plural is programma's. The definite noun phrase here is het programma, literally “the program/schedule”; het is the definite article used with this noun. volgende means “next” or “following.” It is the attributive form of volgend before the definite singular noun phrase het volgende evenement. In Dutch, an attributive adjective normally takes -e after a definite article; the -e here belongs to volgende, not to evenement. For example, het volgende hoofdstuk means “the next chapter.” evenement means “event.” It is a neuter noun, as shown here by het evenement; its plural is evenementen. The complete noun phrase het volgende evenement means “the next event.” The preposition van links het programma to het volgende evenement: het programma van het volgende evenement is “the schedule for/of the next event.” Combining that noun phrase with We sturen gives We sturen het programma van het volgende evenement. The complete utterance means “We will send the schedule for the next event.”