Preparing for a Walking Event | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ik heb het formulier ingevuld.

   I finished the form.

   Ik heb

   I have

   het

   the

   formulier

   form

   ingevuld

   filled in; completed

   More detail

   Ik heb means “I have.” Here, heb is the first-person singular present form of hebben (“to have”). Together with a past participle, it forms the Dutch perfect: Ik heb ... = “I have ...” or, in a completed past context, “I ...-ed.” For example: Ik heb betaald. — “I paid” / “I have paid.” het is the definite article “the.” It belongs with formulier: het formulier (“the form”). Dutch nouns have grammatical gender, and formulier is a neuter noun, so its singular definite article is het; this is not a numeric meaning. formulier means “form,” such as a document that someone fills in. Its plural is formulieren: de formulieren — “the forms.” The article changes to de in the plural. ingevuld means “filled in” here. It is the past participle of the separable verb invullen (“to fill in”): invullen → vulde in (past tense) → ingevuld (past participle). With heb, the participle appears at the end: Ik heb het formulier ingevuld. The complete pattern is subject + hebben + object + past participle. Ik identifies the speaker, heb marks the perfect construction, het formulier is the document affected by the action, and ingevuld states that the filling-in is completed. Thus the utterance means “I finished the form,” with the more literal sense “I have filled in the form.”

2. Kunnen we meedoen aan het volgende wandelevenement?

   Can we join the next walking event?

   Kunnen we

   Can we

   meedoen

   join; take part

   volgende

   next

   wandelevenement

   walking event

   More detail

   Kunnen we: kunnen is the present-tense plural form of kunnen, meaning “can” or “be able to”; we means “we.” In this question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Kunnen we ...? After a modal such as kunnen, the next lexical verb normally stays in the infinitive. Example: Kunnen we beginnen? — “Can we start?” meedoen: This is the infinitive of the separable verb meedoen, “to join” or “to take part.” In the fixed sentence it follows kunnen, so it remains one infinitive form. In an ordinary present-tense clause, the parts separate: We doen mee. — “We are taking part.” Its past participle is meegedaan. volgende: This is the inflected form of the adjective volgend, meaning “next” or “following.” Here the -e form appears before the definite noun phrase het volgende wandelevenement. The adjective is not based on the noun. Compare het volgende evenement — “the next event” — with een volgend evenement — “a subsequent/next event,” where the adjective has a different form in this noun phrase. wandelevenement: This noun is a compound written as one word and means “walking event.” Its final part, evenement, is a het-word, which is why the phrase uses het: het wandelevenement. The plural is wandelevenementen. Together, meedoen aan expresses taking part in or joining an activity or event. The question structure Kunnen we ...? asks whether “we” can do that. Thus Kunnen we meedoen aan het volgende wandelevenement? means “Can we join the next walking event?”

3. Ja, jullie kunnen meedoen aan het volgende wandelevenement.

   Yes, you can join the next walking event.

   Ja

   Yes

   jullie kunnen

   you can

   meedoen

   join; take part

   aan

   to; at

   volgende

   next; following

   wandelevenement

   walking event

   More detail

   Ja is an affirmative response: “yes.” It confirms the possibility asked about in the preceding question. jullie kunnen addresses more than one person. jullie is the Dutch second-person plural pronoun, “you” for a group. kunnen is the present-tense form of kunnen, “can” or “be able to,” used here as a modal verb. A modal is followed by an infinitive: Jullie kunnen komen. — “You can come.” meedoen means “to join” or “to take part.” It is an infinitive here because it follows the modal kunnen. The separable verb is meedoen; in a main clause without a preceding modal, its parts can separate: Jullie doen mee. — “You take part.” With kunnen, the complete infinitive stays at the end of its clause: Jullie kunnen meedoen. — “You can take part.” aan forms the useful pattern meedoen aan + an activity or event: “to take part in” that activity or event. For example, Zij doet mee aan de wedstrijd. means “She is taking part in the competition.” volgende means “next” in this sentence. It is the adjective form of volgend. Dutch adjectives before a definite noun normally take an -e ending, so het volgende ... has volgende. Compare het volgende evenement (“the next event”) with een volgend evenement (“a subsequent/next event”), where the adjective has no -e in this neuter singular indefinite phrase. wandelevenement is a compound noun meaning “walking event.” Its final part, evenement, identifies it as an event, while wandel- specifies the walking-related type. Dutch commonly writes such compounds as one word. As a noun, it is used with the neuter article: het wandelevenement. Together, jullie kunnen meedoen aan het volgende wandelevenement means “you can join the next walking event”: the addressed group has the possibility or permission to take part in that event. With the initial Ja, the complete utterance is “Yes, you can join the next walking event.”

4. Moeten we iets meenemen?

   Should we bring anything?

   Moeten we

   should we

   iets

   anything

   meenemen

   bring along

   More detail

   Moeten we is a reusable Dutch question pattern meaning “should we …?” Here moeten is the present-tense form of moeten (“must, have to, should”) with we (“we”). In a yes/no question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Moeten we ...? Compare the statement order We moeten ... (“We should/must ...”). The exact force can range from obligation to advice, but in this sentence the intended meaning is a suggestion about what the speakers should bring. iets means “anything” in this question. Its basic meaning is “something”; in a question such as Heb je iets nodig?, it is naturally translated as “Do you need anything?” The form itself does not change for the speakers or for grammatical gender. meenemen means “to bring along” or “to take along.” It is the infinitive of the separable verb meenemen, built with mee (“along”) and nemen (“take”). In the fixed sentence, it stays together because it follows the modal verb moeten: We moeten iets meenemen (“We should bring something”). In a main-clause statement without a modal, the parts can separate: We nemen water mee (“We are bringing water along”). Together, Moeten we asks about the speakers’ recommended or required action, iets supplies the nonspecific object, and meenemen identifies that action as bringing something along. The complete utterance therefore means “Should we bring anything?”

5. Neem alstublieft een fles water mee.

   Please bring a water bottle.

   Neem … mee

   bring along

   alstublieft

   please

   fles

   bottle

   water

   water

   More detail

   Neem ... mee is the Dutch separable verb construction meenemen, meaning “bring/take along.” Neem is the imperative form; Dutch imperative forms do not by themselves mark whether the instruction is addressed to one person or more than one. mee is the separable particle meaning “along.” In this sentence, alstublieft and the object een fles water occur between Neem and mee. Example: Neem je jas mee. — “Bring your coat along.” alstublieft means “please.” Here it makes the imperative into a polite request. It does not specify who should perform the action. fles means “bottle.” Its singular form is fles; its plural is flessen. Example: De fles staat op tafel. — “The bottle is on the table.” water means “water.” In een fles water, it identifies the contents of the bottle. In this use, water is normally a mass noun rather than a noun marked for an individual count. The noun phrase een fles water means “a bottle of water”: een introduces an unspecified bottle, fles names the container, and water specifies its contents. In the actual word order, the utterance is Neem + alstublieft + een fles water + mee. Together, this means “Please bring a bottle of water.”

6. Jullie kunnen een grote tas bij de balie achterlaten.

   You can leave a large bag at the desk.

   Jullie kunnen

   you can

   grote

   large

   tas

   bag

   balie

   desk

   achterlaten

   leave behind

   More detail

   Jullie kunnen means “you can,” with jullie referring to more than one person. Kunnen is the present-tense form of kunnen for jullie; it expresses ability or permission here. A modal verb is followed by an infinitive: Jullie kunnen ... achterlaten = “You can leave ...”. grote means “large” here. Its base form is groot. Before the singular common-gender noun tas, the attributive adjective takes -e: een grote tas. Compare the shorter form in een groot boek (“a large book”), where boek is a neuter noun. tas means “bag.” Its plural is tassen: twee tassen = “two bags.” In this sentence, een tas presents one unspecified bag; een is an indefinite article and does not by itself add a separate numerical emphasis. balie means “desk” or “counter.” The complete location phrase is bij de balie, literally “at/by the desk.” Balie is a common-gender noun, shown by the article de in this phrase. achterlaten means “to leave behind” or “to leave somewhere.” Its base form is the infinitive achterlaten. It is a separable verb: without a modal, the parts can separate, as in Ik laat mijn tas bij de balie achter (“I leave my bag at the desk”). After kunnen, the infinitive stays together at the end: Jullie kunnen ... achterlaten. Together, Jullie kunnen + een grote tas + bij de balie + achterlaten gives: “You can leave a large bag at the desk.” The sentence states that the addressees have permission or ability to leave the bag there.

7. Ik heb een kleine fles water bij me.

   I have a small water bottle with me.

   Ik heb

   I have

   kleine

   small

   fles

   bottle

   water

   water

   bij me

   with me

   More detail

   Ik heb means “I have” here: ik is the first-person singular subject, and heb is the present-tense form of hebben (“to have”) used with ik. The same verb appears with other subjects in forms such as jij hebt and wij hebben. Example: Ik heb een boek. — “I have a book.” kleine describes the bottle as small. Its base form is klein. The -e ending is used here because fles is a common-gender singular noun and the adjective comes before it in the noun phrase een kleine fles; the determiner een alone does not explain the ending. Example: een kleine tas — “a small bag.” fles means “bottle.” Its plural is flessen. In een fles water, the noun phrase means “a bottle of water”: fles names the container, while water identifies what it contains. Example: een fles melk — “a bottle of milk.” water means “water.” In this use it is a substance noun specifying the contents of the bottle. The phrase fles water is a reusable way to express “bottle of water.” bij me means “with me” in this sentence. bij expresses being with someone here, and me is the unstressed first-person singular object form corresponding to ik. Together with heb, bij me hebben expresses that something is with the speaker or in the speaker’s possession at the relevant time. Example: Ik heb mijn tas bij me. — “I have my bag with me.” The structure is Ik heb + een kleine fles water + bij me: “I have a small bottle of water with me.” The indefinite determiner een introduces the noun phrase without itself stating a numerical count; kleine describes fles, water specifies the contents, and bij me adds that the bottle is with the speaker.

8. Ik laat mijn tas hier achter voordat we beginnen.

   I will leave my bag here before we start.

   Ik

   I

   laat … achter

   leave behind

   mijn

   my

   tas

   bag

   hier

   here

   voordat

   before

   we

   we

   beginnen

   start

   More detail

   Ik means “I” and is the first-person singular subject. Dutch uses ik for one speaker; the subject controls the first-person singular form of the verb here. laat ... achter is the separable verb achterlaten, “to leave behind.” In this sentence, laat is the first-person singular present form of laten, while achter appears separately at the end of the main clause. The combination has the meaning “leave behind”; laten by itself can have other meanings, such as “let” or “allow.” A reusable pattern is Ik laat [something] achter — “I leave [something] behind.” mijn means “my.” It is a possessive form used with a noun belonging to the speaker. In mijn tas, it identifies the bag as the speaker’s; it does not itself express a numeric quantity. tas means “bag.” Its base form is tas; the plural is tassen. Example: Ik neem een tas mee. — “I take a bag with me.” hier means “here,” referring to the place relevant to the utterance. It is an adverb, so it does not change form for the person or number of the subject. voordat means “before” and introduces an event that has not yet happened at the reference time. It connects the main clause with the subordinate clause we beginnen. we means “we,” the first-person plural subject. It refers to the speaker together with at least one other participant, but the supplied sentence does not specify who the other participant or participants are. beginnen means “start” or “begin.” Its base form is beginnen, and it is also the present-tense form used with the plural subject we: we beginnen. In the subordinate clause, the finite verb comes at the end: voordat we beginnen — “before we start.” Together, Ik laat mijn tas hier achter means “I leave my bag here,” and voordat we beginnen adds the time relation “before we start.” Dutch present tense can describe a planned future event when the context makes that timing clear, so the complete utterance naturally means “I will leave my bag here before we start.”

9. Ik kijk ernaar uit.

   I am looking forward to it.

   Ik

   I

   kijk … ernaar … uit

   look forward to it

   More detail

   Ik is the Dutch first-person singular subject pronoun, meaning “I.” It identifies the speaker as the person performing the action. A useful contrast is jij (“you,” singular informal) when the subject is the person addressed. kijk is the present-tense form of kijken (“to look”) used with ik: ik kijk. In this sentence it belongs to the fixed expression ernaar uitkijken, rather than describing ordinary looking with the eyes. For example: Ik kijk naar de foto. — “I look at the photo.” ernaar uit is the separated part of ernaar uitkijken, the Dutch expression meaning “to look forward to it.” ernaar is a pronominal adverb formed from er + naar; here it points to the thing or event anticipated by “it,” without identifying that referent itself. uit is the separable particle associated with uitkijken. In a main clause, the particle can appear separately: Ik kijk ernaar uit. In another structure it can remain with the verb, as in Ik wil ernaar uitkijken. — “I want to look forward to it.” Together, Ik kijk ernaar uit. means “I am looking forward to it.” The present-tense Dutch expression communicates the speaker’s anticipation of an already understood thing or event.