Rest Your Eyes from the Screen | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Mijn ogen zijn moe.

   My eyes are tired.

   Mijn

   my

   ogen

   eyes

   zijn

   are

   moe

   tired

   More detail

   Mijn means “my” and marks possession by the speaker. It is the possessive form related to ik (“I”). Unlike a form that agrees with the possessed noun, mijn stays the same before singular and plural nouns: mijn oog = “my eye” and mijn ogen = “my eyes.” ogen means “eyes” here. Its singular base form is oog; ogen is the plural form. This is an irregular vowel change rather than simply adding a regular plural ending. Example: Mijn oog is rood. — “My eye is red.” zijn means “are” in this sentence. It is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) used with a plural subject such as ogen. The same verb has other present forms, including ik ben (“I am”) and hij/zij is (“he/she is”). Example: De ramen zijn open. — “The windows are open.” moe means “tired.” It is an adjective describing the condition of the eyes. After the linking verb zijn, it appears as a predicate adjective: De kinderen zijn moe. — “The children are tired.” In this use, moe does not take an ending to agree with the plural subject. Together, Mijn ogen identifies the speaker’s eyes as the subject, zijn links that plural subject to a description, and moe supplies the description. The complete meaning is “My eyes are tired.”

2. Neem een korte pauze van het scherm.

   Take a short break from the screen.

   Neem

   take

   korte

   short

   pauze

   break

   scherm

   screen

   More detail

   Neem is the imperative of nemen (“to take”). The second-person singular present form is je neemt, while the imperative uses the shorter form neem: Neem een pauze. — “Take a break.” Here it is a direct instruction, not a statement about what someone is currently taking. korte means “short” here. Its base form is kort; before this noun it has the -e form because pauze is a singular common-gender noun: een korte pauze. The adjective describes the duration of the break. pauze means “break” or “pause” in this context. Its usual article is de: de pauze; its plural is pauzes. The useful pattern is een pauze nemen, literally “take a break,” which is the natural Dutch expression for taking a break. scherm means “screen.” In the sentence it appears with the definite article as het scherm (“the screen”). The preposition van plus het scherm gives van het scherm, “from the screen” or, naturally here, “away from the screen.” Together, Neem + een korte pauze forms the instruction “Take a short break.” Adding van het scherm specifies what to take the break from: Neem een korte pauze van het scherm. means “Take a short break from the screen.”

3. Hoe lang moet ik wegkijken?

   How long should I look away?

   Hoe lang

   how long

   moet ik

   should I / must I

   wegkijken

   look away

   More detail

   Hoe lang asks about duration: “for how long?” It is reusable with an action, as in Hoe lang duurt de pauze? — “How long does the break last?” Here it asks for the duration of looking away, not for a distance. moet ik contains the modal verb moeten (“must/should”) in the present tense and the subject pronoun ik (“I”). With ik, the finite form is moet; the full present-tense forms include ik moet and jij/hij/zij moet, while plural subjects use moeten. In this question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Moet ik wachten? — “Should I wait?” The fixed translation supports the advice-like “should” meaning here; moeten can also express obligation as “must” in other contexts. wegkijken means “to look away.” It is a separable verb built from weg (“away”) and kijken (“to look”), but after a modal verb its infinitive stays together at the end: Ik moet wegkijken. — “I should look away.” Without the modal, the parts separate in a finite clause: Ik kijk weg. — “I look away.” Together, Hoe lang asks for the duration, moet ik asks what the speaker should do, and wegkijken names the action. The whole utterance therefore means: “How long should I look away?”

4. Kijk een minuut weg.

   Look away for a minute.

   Kijk … weg

   look away

   minuut

   minute

   More detail

   Kijk … weg is the imperative construction meaning “look away.” Kijk is the imperative of kijken (“to look”); the imperative addresses one or more people without stating the subject. Weg adds the direction “away,” so Kijk alone means “look,” while Kijk weg means “look away.” Example: Kijk naar de deur. — “Look at the door.” minuut means “minute.” Its plural is minuten; the singular form appears here because the duration is one minute. In the full expression, een minuut means “for a minute.” Example: Wacht een minuut. — “Wait for a minute.” Together, Kijk … weg and een minuut form the direct instruction “Look away for a minute.” The position of weg after minuut in the written sentence does not change its connection with Kijk; the two parts form the separable verb construction wegkijken, whose imperative is Kijk … weg.

5. Ik kan wat water drinken terwijl ik rust.

   I can drink some water while I rest.

   Ik kan

   I can

   wat

   some

   water

   water

   drinken

   drink

   terwijl

   while

   rust

   rest

   More detail

   Ik kan combines the subject pronoun ik (“I”) with kan, the first-person singular present form of kunnen (“can; be able to”). In this sentence, kan expresses ability or possibility. After a modal verb such as kunnen, Dutch normally uses an infinitive for the other verb: Ik kan zwemmen means “I can swim.” wat means “some” here: it presents an unspecified amount of the following substance. It is not a precise numerical count. Dutch also uses wat in other contexts, so its meaning is determined by what it modifies and by the sentence. water is the noun “water,” a mass noun for the liquid. A reusable pattern is wat + mass noun, as in Ik drink wat thee — “I drink some tea.” drinken is the infinitive “to drink.” Its base form is also drinken; here it stays in the infinitive because it follows the modal kan. Compare Ik drink water (“I drink water”), where drink is the first-person singular present form and no modal precedes it. terwijl introduces a situation that takes place at the same time as the main action. It means “while” in this sentence and begins a subordinate clause. For example, Zij leest terwijl zij wacht means “She reads while she waits.” rust is the first-person singular present form of rusten, “to rest.” The subject ik is expressed in the subordinate clause, so ik rust means “I rest.” In the fixed sentence, rust is not the infinitive; the infinitive is rusten. Together, Ik kan wat water drinken means “I can drink some water.” The clause terwijl ik rust adds the simultaneous activity “while I rest.” The complete utterance is therefore “I can drink some water while I rest.”

6. Dan voelen je ogen beter aan.

   That should help your eyes feel better.

   Dan

   then

   voelen … aan

   feel

   je

   your

   ogen

   eyes

   beter

   better

   More detail

   Dan means “then” here: it links this statement to the earlier action or condition and presents the result that is expected to follow. It can also refer to a time, but that is not the function in this utterance. voelen ... aan is the separable verb aanvoelen, used here for how something feels. In the finite clause, voelen appears in the middle of the sentence and the particle aan appears at the end. The plural subject je ogen takes voelen; the singular form would be voelt, as in Je oog voelt beter aan. (“Your eye feels better.”) This is different from simply voelen without aan, which commonly means “feel” in the sense of physically sensing something or having a feeling. je is the possessive form meaning “your” before a noun. It does not show the number of the thing possessed: je oog is “your eye,” while je ogen is “your eyes.” The form is also used with a singular possessor, so it does not by itself say how many people are being addressed. ogen is the plural of oog, “eye.” This noun has an irregular plural: oog → ogen, not a plural formed by simply adding the regular ending. In this sentence, ogen is the subject of voelen ... aan. beter is the comparative form of goed (“good”): goed → beter (“better”) → het best (“the best”). Here it says that the eyes are expected to feel better than before or better than their current condition; the comparison point is understood from the situation rather than stated. Together, Dan sets up the expected result, je ogen voelen ... aan describes how the eyes feel, and beter gives the change in condition. The full utterance means: “That should help your eyes feel better.” In Dutch, the English idea “should help” is conveyed here by the context and the expected-result use of Dan; the sentence itself does not contain a separate word equivalent to “help”.

7. Dan kan ik de taak afmaken.

   Then I can finish the task.

   Dan

   then

   kan ik

   I can

   taak

   task

   afmaken

   finish

   More detail

   Dan means “then” here, linking this action to an earlier or understood point in time. In Dutch, it can also introduce a clause and occupy the first position, as it does here. kan ik expresses “I can.” kan is the present-tense form of kunnen used with ik; the useful chain is kunnen → ik kan. Because Dan comes first, the finite verb kan comes before the subject ik: Dan kan ik .... This is a declarative word order pattern, not a question. For example: Morgen kan ik komen. — “Tomorrow I can come.” taak means “task.” The phrase uses the definite noun phrase de taak, “the task”; taak is a common-gender Dutch noun and its plural is taken. The fixed translation and the surrounding context identify this as the task being completed. afmaken means “to finish” or “to complete.” Its base form is the separable verb afmaken. In this sentence it stays together in the infinitive because it follows the modal verb kan: kan ... afmaken. In a finite clause without a modal, the parts separate: Ik maak de taak af. — “I finish the task.” Together, Dan kan ik gives “Then I can,” de taak gives “the task,” and afmaken gives “finish.” The Dutch sentence therefore means: “Then I can finish the task.”

8. Neem eerst de pauze en maak dan de taak af.

   Take the break first, then finish the task.

   Neem

   take

   eerst

   first

   pauze

   break

   maak … af

   finish

   dan

   then

   taak

   task

   More detail

   Neem is the imperative of nemen (“to take”). Dutch commonly uses the bare verb form for a direct instruction: Neem ... = “Take ...”. Example: Neem een stoel. — “Take a chair.” eerst means “first” and marks the action that should happen before the next one. It does not itself express a numbered quantity; it establishes order. Example: Lees eerst de vraag. — “Read the question first.” pauze is the noun “break.” Here it appears with the definite article de: de pauze means “the break,” referring to a particular break understood in the situation. The noun is commonly used in een pauze nemen (“to take a break”), while this sentence uses the imperative phrase Neem de pauze. maak ... af is the separable verb afmaken, meaning “to finish” in this context. Its base form is afmaken; in a main-clause imperative, maak comes first and the particle af appears at the end of the clause. The previous-context form afmaken is the unsplit infinitive after kan: kan ... afmaken = “can finish.” Example: Maak je werk af. — “Finish your work.” dan means “then.” Together with eerst, the pair eerst ..., dan ... gives a reusable sequence: “first ..., then ...”. It signals that the second action follows the first. taak is the noun “task.” With the definite article de, de taak means “the task,” the particular task intended here. Example: De taak is moeilijk. — “The task is difficult.” The sentence has two coordinated instructions. Neem eerst de pauze says to take the break first. en maak dan de taak af says to finish the task afterward; the separable parts maak and af surround dan de taak. Together: “Take the break first, then finish the task.”