Getting Ready for Rain | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Het regent buiten.

   It is raining outside.

   regent

   is raining

   buiten

   outside

   More detail

   regent is the present-tense form of regenen (“to rain”). It is the third-person singular form used in the weather expression het regent; Dutch uses het as a grammatical subject here, without referring to a particular object. Compare Het regende. (“It was raining.”) for the past tense. Example: Het sneeuwt. — “It is snowing.” This uses the same impersonal weather pattern. buiten means “outside” and indicates the location of the rain. It is an adverb here, so it does not change form for number or gender. Its opposite is binnen (“inside”). The utterance begins with Het regent: Het supplies the grammatical subject required by the Dutch weather construction, while regent says that rain is falling. buiten then adds the location. Together, Het regent buiten. means “It is raining outside.”

2. Trek je laarzen aan voordat je weggaat.

   Wear your boots before you leave.

   Trek … aan

   put on

   je

   your

   laarzen

   boots

   voordat

   before

   weggaat

   leave

   More detail

   Trek ... aan is the separable Dutch verb aantrekken, “to put on.” Here Trek is the imperative: the speaker tells the listener to do something. In this main-clause pattern, the separable particle aan appears at the end: Trek je jas aan. — “Put on your coat.” je means “your” here and functions as a possessive determiner before laarzen. It is also used for informal “you” in other contexts, but its role in this sentence is possessive, as confirmed by the translation. laarzen means “boots.” Its singular base form is laars; laarzen is the plural form. For example, één laars means “one boot,” while twee laarzen means “two boots.” voordat introduces a time clause meaning “before.” It links one action to an event that occurs later: Was je handen voordat je eet. — “Wash your hands before you eat.” weggaat comes from the separable verb weggaan, “to leave” or “to go away.” It is the present-tense form for je/jij: je gaat weg. In the subordinate clause after voordat, the verb and its separable particle occur together at the end as weggaat. The form gaat is the inflected part of gaan; weg- contributes the meaning of going away. For example, Ze gaat om acht uur weg. — “She leaves at eight o’clock.” Together, Trek je laarzen aan means “Put on your boots,” and voordat je weggaat means “before you leave.” The complete utterance is therefore: “Put on your boots before you leave.”

3. Er liggen plassen op het pad.

   There are puddles on the path.

   Er liggen

   there are

   plassen

   puddles

   op

   on

   pad

   path

   More detail

   Er liggen is a common Dutch way to present something that is located somewhere: literally, “there lie.” Here liggen is the plural form of liggen, “to lie/be situated,” agreeing with plural plassen. Dutch can use er in this existential or presentational pattern; it does not itself identify a physical place. Plassen means “puddles” here. Its singular is plas; the plural is formed as plassen. The plural is also why the sentence uses liggen, not singular ligt. Op means “on” and introduces the surface or location where something is situated. For example: Het boek ligt op de tafel. — “The book is on the table.” Pad means “path.” In the source, it appears with the definite article as het pad, “the path.” The article is separate from the noun: pad is the noun, while het marks this noun phrase as definite. Together, er liggen presents the existence and location of plassen, and op het pad gives their location. The complete meaning is: “There are puddles on the path.”

4. Stap er langzaam omheen.

   Step around them slowly.

   Stap

   step

   er … omheen

   around it/them

   langzaam

   slowly

   More detail

   Stap is the imperative of stappen (“to step”): it tells the addressee to take a step or move by stepping. The imperative commonly uses the verb stem without an expressed subject. For example: Stap naar voren. — “Step forward.” er ... omheen is a discontinuous Dutch pronominal-adverb construction meaning “around it/them” here. omheen means “around” in this construction, while er is the accompanying pronoun element; together they refer to the things being avoided, understood here as the puddles mentioned in the context and rendered as “them” in the fixed translation. The construction is reusable with other prepositions: ernaast means “next to it/them,” and ervoor means “in front of it/them.” langzaam is an adverb meaning “slowly.” It describes how the stepping or movement is carried out. The same form can also describe a gradual process, as in Het wordt langzaam donker. — “It is slowly getting dark.” Together, Stap gives the imperative instruction, er ... omheen specifies moving around the relevant objects, and langzaam specifies the manner. The whole utterance means: “Step around them slowly.”

5. Mijn tas kan nat worden.

   My bag might get wet.

   Mijn

   my

   tas

   bag

   kan

   might

   nat

   wet

   worden

   get; become

   More detail

   Mijn means “my” here: it marks the bag as belonging to the speaker. Dutch mijn normally stays the same with singular and plural nouns; the noun’s gender does not change this form. Example: Mijn jas is droog. — “My coat is dry.” tas is the noun “bag.” The form here is singular; its plural is tassen. Dutch commonly uses de tas, although no article appears in this sentence because mijn fills that determiner role. kan is the third-person singular present form of kunnen. With an infinitive, kunnen can express ability or possibility. In this fixed sentence, the translation selects the possibility meaning “might,” rather than the ability meaning “can.” Example: De tas kan vallen. — “The bag might fall.” nat means “wet.” It is used here as a predicative adjective: it describes the bag after a change of state. In nat worden, it does not take an adjective ending. The opposite is droog (“dry”): De tas wordt droog. — “The bag becomes dry.” worden is the infinitive meaning “become” or “get.” After the modal kan, the infinitive comes at the end: kan nat worden means “might get wet.” The pattern is subject + modal + adjective + worden, as in Het papier kan nat worden. — “The paper might get wet.” Together, Mijn tas identifies the speaker’s bag, kan marks the possibility, and nat worden describes becoming wet. The complete meaning is “My bag might get wet.”

6. Houd hem onder je jas.

   Keep it under your coat.

   Houd

   keep

   hem

   it

   onder

   under

   je

   your

   jas

   coat

   More detail

   Houd is the imperative of houden, meaning “keep” here. The imperative tells the addressee what to do, and Dutch normally leaves the subject you unspoken in this form. Compare: Houd de deur open. — “Keep the door open.” hem is a singular object pronoun meaning “it” here. Dutch object pronouns include forms such as hem and haar; the choice depends on the grammatical properties of the referent, not on the English word “it” alone. The supplied texts do not uniquely identify what hem refers to, so this sentence should be learned with the supported meaning “it,” without assigning it a specific referent. onder means “under” and introduces the position of the object. It can be reused with other nouns: De schoenen staan onder het bed. — “The shoes are under the bed.” je means “your” before jas. It is the common unstressed possessive form; jouw is a more emphatic alternative in suitable contexts. For example, Is dit je boek? means “Is this your book?” jas means “coat.” Its plural is jassen: Twee jassen hangen daar. — “Two coats are hanging there.” Together, Houd hem onder je jas gives the imperative pattern Houd [object] onder je [noun]: keep the object in the position under your coat. The complete meaning is “Keep it under your coat.”

7. Ik moet ook een paraplu meenemen.

   I should take an umbrella too.

   Ik moet

   I should / I must

   ook

   too / also

   paraplu

   umbrella

   meenemen

   take along

   More detail

   Ik moet means “I should” here. Ik is the first-person singular subject, “I”; moet is the present-tense form of moeten, a modal verb. Depending on context, moeten can express strong necessity (“must”) or a recommendation/obligation (“should”); the fixed translation supports the latter here. A modal verb is followed by an infinitive: Ik moet wachten means “I should/must wait.” ook means “too” or “also”. It adds this action to something already relevant. Its position can affect emphasis, but here it follows the modal verb and means that taking an umbrella is an additional action. Example: Ik neem ook water mee. — “I am taking water too.” paraplu is the noun “umbrella”. In the sentence, een paraplu means “an umbrella”: een is the Dutch indefinite article, while paraplu names the object. The plural is paraplu's, “umbrellas”. Example: De paraplu is nat. — “The umbrella is wet.” meenemen means “to take along” or “to bring with oneself”. It is an infinitive and can be analyzed as mee (“along/with”) plus nemen (“take”), but the complete verb is the reusable unit. In a finite main clause, this separable verb splits: Ik neem een paraplu mee. — “I take an umbrella along.” After a modal verb, the infinitive remains together at the end: Ik moet een paraplu meenemen. — “I should take an umbrella along.” Together, Ik moet + ook + een paraplu + meenemen produces: “I should take an umbrella too.” The subject is “I”, moet expresses the recommendation or obligation, ook adds this as an additional action, and meenemen specifies taking the umbrella along.

8. Dat helpt je droog te blijven.

   That will help keep you dry.

   Dat

   That

   helpt

   helps

   je

   you

   droog

   dry

   te blijven

   to stay

   More detail

   Dat means “that” here and is the subject of the sentence. It is a Dutch demonstrative pronoun: its form is neuter singular, but the supplied sentence does not uniquely identify what it refers to. In this context, the fixed translation supports the general meaning “That.” helpt is the present-tense form of helpen, “to help,” with a third-person singular subject such as dat. Dutch helpen can be followed by te plus an infinitive to express helping someone carry out an action. Example: Zij helpt me te leren. — “She helps me learn.” je means “you” here and is the object of helpt. Je is the common unstressed Dutch pronoun for “you”; depending on context, it can refer to one person or more than one person. Its role here is the person who is helped. droog means “dry.” Here it describes the state that je remains in. It is not the form of the verb blijven; the verb is blijven. te blijven consists of te, the marker used with an infinitive in this construction, and blijven, “to stay” or “to remain.” The phrase expresses remaining in a state. With droog, droog te blijven means “to stay dry.” Together, Dat helpt je droog te blijven has the pattern subject + helpen + object + te + infinitive: “That helps you stay dry.” The Dutch verb is grammatically present tense, while the English translation’s “will help” can present the same intended future-oriented meaning in context. The preceding sentence mentions taking an umbrella, but the fixed sentence itself does not require identifying exactly what dat refers to.