Talking about walking as a hobby | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Is wandelen jouw hobby?

   Is walking your hobby?

   Is

   is

   wandelen

   walking; going for walks

   jouw

   your

   hobby

   hobby

   More detail

   Is is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) for a third-person singular subject. In a yes/no question, Dutch commonly places this finite verb before the subject: Is ... jouw hobby? Compare the statement Wandelen is jouw hobby. (“Walking is your hobby.”). wandelen means “to walk” or, in this sentence, “going for walks.” It is the infinitive form. Dutch can use an infinitive as a noun-like activity, so wandelen here names the activity rather than describing an explicitly stated person’s action. The following context supports the activity reading: Ik ga in mijn vrije tijd graag wandelen. means “I like going for walks in my free time.” jouw is the possessive determiner “your.” It identifies something as belonging to or associated with the person being addressed. Dutch also has the shorter possessive form je; jouw gives fuller emphasis to “your.” hobby is a noun meaning “hobby,” an activity someone enjoys doing in their free time. Dutch uses the loanword hobby; its plural is hobby’s. Together, wandelen names the activity, jouw hobby means “your hobby,” and Is ...? makes a yes/no question. The whole utterance therefore means “Is walking your hobby?”

2. Ik ga in mijn vrije tijd graag wandelen.

   I like going for walks in my free time.

   Ik ga

   I go

   vrije

   free

   tijd

   time

   graag

   like to

   wandelen

   walk; go walking

   More detail

   Ik ga contains ik (“I”) and ga, the first-person singular present form of gaan (“to go”). With an activity infinitive and graag, as here, ga is understood as going to do that activity, not simply as a standalone statement of movement. Compare: Ik ga naar huis. = “I am going home.” vrije is the form of the adjective vrij (“free”) used before the noun tijd. In this expression, vrije tijd means “free time,” meaning time when one is not occupied by work or other duties. The adjective’s -e form belongs to vrije, not to tijd. tijd is the noun “time.” The fixed expression vrije tijd is reusable for leisure time: In mijn vrije tijd lees ik. = “In my free time, I read.” graag means that the speaker enjoys or likes doing the activity that follows. It is commonly used with a verb: Ik lees graag. = “I like reading.” It is not the ordinary adjective “glad”; it functions here as an adverb expressing willingness or enjoyment. wandelen is the infinitive “to walk” or “to go walking.” Dutch uses this infinitive after ga in the pattern gaan + infinitive: Ik ga zwemmen. = “I am going swimming.” The form wandelen also appears in the question Is wandelen jouw hobby?, where the activity itself is treated as a noun-like idea: “Is walking your hobby?” Together, Ik ga ... graag wandelen expresses “I like going for walks.” The phrase in mijn vrije tijd specifies when this activity is enjoyed: “in my free time.” Thus the complete utterance means, “I like going for walks in my free time.”

3. Waar ga je meestal naartoe?

   Where do you usually go?

   Waar

   where

   ga

   go

   je

   you

   meestal

   usually

   naartoe

   to / to where

   More detail

   Waar asks about a place or destination: “where?” In the reusable pattern waar ... naartoe, it asks “where to?” Example: Waar ga je morgen naartoe? — “Where are you going tomorrow?” ga is a present-tense form of gaan, “to go.” With ik, the ordinary form is ik ga; with jij/je, an ordinary statement uses jij/je gaat, but inversion in a question gives ga jij/je. Thus the ga in this sentence is the inverted second-person form, not the ordinary second-person statement form. Example: Ga je naar school? — “Are you going to school?” je is the unstressed subject pronoun “you” here. The stressed subject form is jij; je is the ordinary form when no special emphasis is intended. In ga je, je remains the subject even though it follows the verb. meestal means “usually” and describes what happens most often. Example: Ik ga meestal naar het park. — “I usually go to the park.” naartoe is a directional adverb referring to movement toward a destination. Together with waar, the separated pattern waar ... naartoe means “where to?” Here the parts are separated by the verb, subject, and frequency adverb. Together, Waar + ga je + meestal + naartoe means “Where do you usually go?” The present-tense verb precedes the subject in this information question, and naartoe specifies the destination being asked about.

4. Ik wandel in het park.

   I walk in the park.

   Ik

   I

   wandel

   walk

   in

   in

   het

   the

   park

   park

   More detail

   Ik means “I” here: the speaker is the subject. Dutch subject pronouns include ik “I,” jij/je “you” (singular), and hij/zij/ze “he/she.” The form ik is used for the first-person singular subject. wandel is the present-tense form of wandelen “to walk” for ik: ik wandel = “I walk.” Dutch present-tense verbs commonly use the stem with ik; the stem of wandelen is wandel. Example: Ik wandel naar huis. — “I walk home.” in expresses being or moving within a place in this sentence. It is a preposition and does not change for the speaker or the place. Example: Zij wandelt in de tuin. — “She walks in the garden.” het is the Dutch definite article “the” used here with park. Dutch has het for singular neuter nouns and de for common-gender nouns; the article must be learned with the noun. The indefinite article is een, as in een park — “a park.” park means “park.” It is a singular neuter noun, so its definite form is het park — “the park.” Example: Het park is rustig. — “The park is quiet.” Together, Ik wandel gives “I walk,” and in het park gives “in the park.” The complete utterance is Ik wandel in het park. — “I walk in the park.”

5. Is de route lang?

   Is the route long?

   Is

   is

   route

   route

   lang

   long

   More detail

   Is is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) for a singular subject such as de route. In a yes/no question, Dutch places this finite verb before the subject: Is de route ...? Compare the statement De route is lang. (“The route is long.”). This word alone expresses “is”; the question meaning comes from its position and the question mark. route means “route” or “course.” It is a noun with the definite article de: de route. The article is part of the noun phrase, while route itself names the path being discussed. Example: De route is kort. — “The route is short.” lang means “long.” It is an adjective. In this sentence it follows is and describes the route through a linking-verb construction: de route is lang. When an adjective is used this way after zijn, it normally has no ending: De route is lang. Before a noun, Dutch commonly uses the attributive form een lange route (“a long route”), where lange is the inflected form. Together, Is + de route + lang forms a yes/no question. The verb comes first, followed by the subject noun phrase and the adjective: “Is the route long?”

6. Het is een korte, makkelijke wandeling.

   It is a short, easy walk.

   Het is

   it is

   korte

   short

   makkelijke

   easy

   wandeling

   walk

   More detail

   Het is means “it is” here. Het is the Dutch subject pronoun for “it”; the fixed translation supports that reading but does not identify a separate concrete referent. Is is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) for a third-person singular subject. Other present-tense forms include ik ben (“I am”) and jij bent (“you are”). Example: Het is koud. — “It is cold.” korte means “short” here. Its base form is kort; before this noun it has the -e form because wandeling is a singular de-word: een korte wandeling. The adjective describes the walk’s duration or length in this sentence. Example: een korte pauze — “a short break.” makkelijke means “easy” here. Its base form is makkelijk; the observed -e form agrees with the noun phrase een ... wandeling. It describes the walk as requiring little difficulty or effort. Example: een makkelijke oefening — “an easy exercise.” wandeling is a noun meaning “walk.” It is a singular de-word: de wandeling; with the indefinite article, een wandeling means “a walk.” The adjective forms before it are therefore korte and makkelijke. Example: We maken een wandeling. — “We are taking a walk.” Together, een korte, makkelijke wandeling is “a short, easy walk.” The whole utterance says that it is such a walk: Het is een korte, makkelijke wandeling. — “It is a short, easy walk.” The comma separates the two adjectives, which both describe wandeling. This is neutral everyday wording.

7. Dat klinkt ontspannend.

   That sounds relaxing.

   Dat

   that

   klinkt

   sounds

   ontspannend

   relaxing

   More detail

   Dat is the Dutch neuter demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” here. As the subject, it can point to a previously mentioned thing, event, or situation; the supplied sentence does not require naming a more specific referent. Compare dit (“this”) for something presented as nearer. klinkt is the present-tense third-person singular form of klinken, “to sound.” The form agrees with the singular subject dat: dat klinkt = “that sounds.” Example: Dat klinkt goed. — “That sounds good.” ontspannend means “relaxing” here: it describes something that produces a relaxed feeling. It is related to the verb ontspannen (“to relax” or “to become relaxed”), but ontspannend is the describing form used for the activity or situation. Compare ontspannen, which can describe someone’s state: Ik ben ontspannen. — “I am relaxed.” Together, Dat klinkt ontspannend. means “That sounds relaxing.” The pattern Dat klinkt + adjective is reusable for giving an impression based on what has been mentioned, for example Dat klinkt moeilijk. — “That sounds difficult.”

8. We kunnen er samen naartoe gaan.

   We can go there together.

   We kunnen

   we can

   er … naartoe

   there, to that place

   samen

   together

   gaan

   go

   More detail

   We kunnen means “we can.” We is the first-person plural subject. kunnen is the present-tense form of kunnen (“can, be able to”) used with we; it is a modal verb and is followed here by the infinitive gaan. For example: We kunnen morgen komen. — “We can come tomorrow.” er ... naartoe expresses movement to a place already understood from the situation: “there” or “to that place.” The two parts form a separable/discontinuous directional expression around samen: er ... naartoe gaan. er does not identify a specific place on its own; the intended place is supplied by the context. For example: Ga je ernaartoe? — “Are you going there?” samen means “together,” describing that the action is carried out jointly by the people included in we. It is an adverb and does not change form for number or gender. For example: We werken samen. — “We work together.” gaan means “to go.” It is the infinitive after the modal kunnen; the modal carries the present-tense marking, so gaan remains in the infinitive. For example: We gaan naar huis. — “We are going home.” Together, We kunnen + er ... naartoe + samen + gaan produces: “We can go there together.” The sentence presents going there together as a possibility or ability, without stating that the trip actually happens.