Reviewing meeting action items | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Kunnen we de actiepunten van de vergadering bekijken?

   Can we review the action items from the meeting?

   Kunnen we

   Can we

   actiepunten

   action items

   vergadering

   meeting

   bekijken

   review

   More detail

   Kunnen we combines kunnen (“can/be able to”) with we (“we”). Here kunnen is a modal verb, and the following lexical verb stays in the infinitive: Kunnen we ... bekijken? means “Can we review ...?” Dutch also uses kunnen for ability or possibility; the exact request meaning here is established by the question and the fixed translation. We is the first-person plural subject. Compare Kun je ...? (“Can you ...?”) for one person addressed informally. actiepunten means “action items” here. Its singular base form is actiepunt; actiepunten is the plural form. The ending -en marks this noun’s plural in this form. For example: We bespreken drie actiepunten. — “We discuss three action items.” vergadering means “meeting.” Its plural is vergaderingen, formed by adding -en. In van de vergadering, van links the action items to the meeting: “from/of the meeting.” De is the definite article for this noun; it does not itself express a number. bekijken is the infinitive meaning “to review” or “to look at.” After the modal kunnen, Dutch uses this infinitive: Kunnen we de agenda bekijken? — “Can we review the agenda?” In this sentence, bekijken is the requested activity, not a separate completed action. Together, de actiepunten van de vergadering forms the object: the action items associated with the meeting. The question pattern Kunnen we ... bekijken? asks whether the speakers can review that object. Thus the complete utterance means: “Can we review the action items from the meeting?”

2. Ik heb de samenvatting open, dus laten we ze controleren.

   I have the summary open, so let's check them.

   Ik

   I

   heb

   have

   samenvatting

   summary

   open

   open

   dus

   so

   laten we

   let’s

   ze

   them

   controleren

   check

   More detail

   Ik is the first-person singular subject pronoun: “I.” It is used for the speaker. Compare jij/je for “you” and wij/we for “we”; Ik itself does not mark gender. heb is the first-person singular present form of hebben (“to have”): ik heb. In iets open hebben, Dutch describes having something open or available in an open state. The form heb is selected by the subject Ik. samenvatting means “summary.” With the definite article, de samenvatting means “the summary.” Example: Ik lees de samenvatting. — “I am reading the summary.” open means “open.” Here it combines with hebben in de samenvatting open hebben: “to have the summary open.” It does not take a special ending in this position. Example: Zij heeft het document open. — “She has the document open.” dus connects a situation with its consequence: “so” or “therefore.” Example: Het is laat, dus ik ga. — “It is late, so I am leaving.” laten we is a reusable Dutch proposal pattern meaning “let’s.” It is followed by an infinitive: laten we + infinitive, as in Laten we beginnen. — “Let’s begin.” Here, laten is part of the proposal pattern rather than a literal request to let an object go. ze is an unstressed Dutch pronoun. Here it is the object of controleren and means “them.” The supplied translation and the preceding context identify its intended referent as the plural actiepunten (“action items”), not the singular de samenvatting. The form ze can also serve other grammatical roles in other contexts, so its exact role comes from the sentence and context. controleren is the infinitive “to check” or “to review.” After laten we, the infinitive stays unchanged: laten we controleren means “let’s check.” Example: Laten we de gegevens controleren. — “Let’s check the data.” Together, Ik heb de samenvatting open means “I have the summary open.” dus adds the consequence, and laten we ze controleren means “so let’s check them.” With the supplied context, ze refers to the meeting’s action items, yielding: “I have the summary open, so let’s check them.”

3. Wie moet contact opnemen met de klant?

   Who should contact the client?

   Wie

   who

   moet

   should; must

   contact opnemen

   to contact; to get in touch

   klant

   client; customer

   More detail

   Wie asks for a person: “who?”. It functions here as the subject of the question, the person expected to perform the action. A useful contrast is wie “who?” for a person and wat “what?” for a thing or non-person. moet is the present-tense singular form of moeten. In this question, it expresses the expected responsibility or expectation, matching the fixed translation “should”. The form does not by itself establish whether the person being asked about is singular or plural. Moeten can also mean “must” when the obligation is stronger. Example: Wie moet dit doen? — “Who must do this?” contact opnemen is a Dutch verb construction meaning “to contact” or “to get in touch”. Its verb is opnemen; contact specifies the kind of contact. With a modal such as moet, this infinitive construction follows the modal: moet contact opnemen. Example: Ik moet contact opnemen met de leverancier. — “I have to contact the supplier.” klant is the noun “client” or “customer”. In the utterance it appears in the definite noun phrase de klant, referring to the client or customer identified in the situation. The common plural is klanten, as in de klanten — “the clients” or “the customers”. Together, Wie asks for the actor, moet expresses the expected responsibility, contact opnemen names the action, and met de klant identifies the person to be contacted. The complete meaning is: “Who should contact the client?”

4. De projectleider regelt dat.

   The project lead will handle that.

   projectleider

   project lead

   regelt

   handles; arranges

   dat

   that

   More detail

   projectleider means “project lead” here. It is a compound noun: project + leider (“leader”). Dutch compounds are written as one word. In de projectleider, de is the definite article; it does not by itself indicate singular number, which comes from the noun form and the sentence. regelt is the present-tense form of regelen, “to arrange” or “to handle.” With the singular third-person subject de projectleider, Dutch uses regelt. The same -t ending also occurs with a singular second-person subject, as in jij regelt; with first-person singular, the form is ik regel. Dutch present tense can refer to a future action when the context supports that reading, as reflected by the fixed translation “will handle.” Example: Zij regelt de afspraak. — “She will arrange the appointment.” dat means “that” here. It is a standalone demonstrative pronoun functioning as the object of regelt; the specific real-world referent is not named in this sentence. Do not confuse this use with conjunctional dat, which can introduce a clause: Ik weet dat hij komt. — “I know that he is coming.” Together, De projectleider identifies the subject, regelt says that the subject handles or arranges something, and dat identifies the object as “that.” The complete meaning is: “The project lead will handle that.”

5. Wat moet ik daarna doen?

   What should I do next?

   Wat

   what

   moet ik

   should I

   daarna

   after that; next

   doen

   do

   More detail

   Wat means “what” here. It asks which action the speaker should perform. It is a question pronoun; for example, Wie moet ik bellen? means “Who should I call?”, where wie asks about a person. moet ik combines moet, the present-tense form of moeten (“must; should”), with ik (“I”). Here it expresses what the speaker should do, matching the fixed translation. In a Dutch question, the finite verb comes before the subject: Moet ik...? means “Should I...?” The form chain is moeten → moet: moeten is the infinitive, while moet is a present-tense singular form used with ik and also with singular third-person subjects. daarna means “after that” or, in this question, “next.” It places the requested action after an earlier established step. Example: Eerst lees ik het bericht; daarna antwoord ik. — “First I read the message; after that I reply.” doen is the infinitive “to do.” After a modal verb such as moeten, Dutch uses an infinitive: Ik moet werken. — “I have to work.” In this utterance, doen names the unspecified action the speaker is asking about. Together, Wat asks which action, moet ik marks that the speaker should perform it, daarna places it after the earlier step, and doen supplies the action verb. The whole utterance means “What should I do next?” A reusable pattern is Wat moet ik [infinitive]? — “What should I [verb]?” For instance, Wat moet ik schrijven? means “What should I write?”

6. Werk de notities bij en deel het bestand.

   Update the notes and share the file.

   Werk … bij

   update

   notities

   notes

   deel

   share

   bestand

   file

   More detail

   Werk ... bij is the separable verb bijwerken, meaning “to update” here. In this command, werk is the imperative form addressed to one person, while the separable part bij appears at the end of the clause. The full reusable pattern is Werk [something] bij. Example: Werk het document bij. — “Update the document.” notities means “notes” here. It is the plural of notitie; the singular is notitie, and the plural ending is -s. The noun refers to written notes, while the surrounding article in the source marks the intended noun phrase as definite. deel means “share” here. It is the imperative of delen, “to share” or “to divide”; in this sentence the intended use is sharing something with another person or group. Example: Deel de foto. — “Share the photo.” bestand means “file.” Its plural is bestanden, so the form changes rather than simply adding -s. Example: Ik open het bestand. — “I open the file.” The conjunction en joins two commands. First, Werk de notities bij means “Update the notes”; then deel het bestand means “share the file.” Together, the utterance gives two direct instructions: “Update the notes and share the file.”

7. Ik stuur de update naar het team.

   I will send the update to the team.

   Ik

   I

   stuur

   send

   update

   update

   naar

   to

   team

   team

   More detail

   Ik is the first-person singular subject: “I.” Dutch subject pronouns include ik “I,” jij/je “you” singular, and wij/we “we.” The subject form identifies who performs the action; it does not itself express future time. stuur comes from sturen, “to send.” In the fixed sentence, stuur is the present-tense form used with ik: ik stuur = “I send” or, with a planned action, “I will send.” The verb changes with the subject: ik stuur, jij stuurt, wij sturen. Example: Ik stuur een bericht. — “I send a message.” update is a noun meaning “update.” It is used here as a loanword and has the article de: de update. Example: De update is klaar. — “The update is ready.” naar introduces the destination or recipient direction, commonly meaning “to” or “toward.” It can be used before a person or group as well as a place: Ik stuur het bericht naar Sara. — “I send the message to Sara.” team means “team.” With its article, the noun phrase is het team; het is the article belonging to this noun phrase, while team is the noun itself. Example: Het team werkt samen. — “The team works together.” The sentence combines Ik stuur (“I will send”), de update (“the update”), and naar het team (“to the team”). Together, Ik stuur de update naar het team. means “I will send the update to the team.” Dutch present tense can describe a scheduled or intended future action when the context makes that reading clear.

8. Dan heeft iedereen de nieuwste versie.

   Then everyone will have the latest version.

   Dan

   then

   heeft

   has; will have

   iedereen

   everyone

   nieuwste

   latest

   versie

   version

   More detail

   Dan means “then” here: it places the situation after the event in the preceding sentence. It can also introduce a result or consequence in other contexts, but here the temporal meaning is supported by the translation and context. heeft is the third-person singular present form of hebben, “to have”: hebben → heeft. The subject iedereen is grammatically singular, so the singular verb form heeft is used. Dutch present-tense forms can also refer to a future situation when the time is clear from context. Here, the preceding planned update and the fixed translation support “will have”; the form itself is still present tense. Example: Morgen heeft iedereen toegang. — “Tomorrow everyone will have access.” iedereen means “everyone” and is treated grammatically as singular, even though it refers to all people in the relevant group. This is why it combines with heeft, not a plural verb form. It is different from alle mensen (“all the people”), whose noun phrase is plural. nieuwste is the superlative form of nieuw, “new”: nieuw → nieuwer (“newer”) → nieuwste (“newest/latest”). It describes the version as the one that is newest among the relevant versions. The ending is carried by the adjective nieuwste, not by versie. Example: Dit is de nieuwste versie. — “This is the latest version.” versie means “version.” It is a common noun and appears here with the definite article de: de versie, “the version.” The adjective and noun form the noun phrase de nieuwste versie, “the latest version.” Together, Dan heeft iedereen means “Then everyone will have,” with the future reading supplied by the context. de nieuwste versie identifies what everyone will have. The complete utterance therefore means: “Then everyone will have the latest version.”