Borrowing a bicycle pump | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Mijn achterband is bijna leeg.

   My back tire is almost flat.

   Mijn

   my

   achterband

   back tire

   is

   is

   bijna

   almost

   leeg

   empty; flat here

   More detail

   Mijn means “my” and marks first-person singular possession. It is used before both singular and plural nouns: mijn band = “my tire” and mijn banden = “my tires.” Achterband is a compound noun: achter means “back/rear,” and band means “tire” here. The whole compound means “back tire.” In Dutch compounds, a specifying element commonly comes before the main noun. Is is the present-tense third-person singular form of zijn, “to be.” It links the subject to a state or description. The form zijn is also used for the infinitive and for some other present-tense subjects, such as wij zijn (“we are”); is is the form used with a singular third-person subject here. Bijna means “almost” and modifies what follows. It indicates that the state is close to being fully true, without saying that it is fully true. Leeg means “empty.” After the linking verb is, this adjective appears in its basic form without an -e ending. With a tire, “almost empty” conveys “almost flat,” as in the fixed translation. Example: De fles is bijna leeg. — “The bottle is almost empty.” Together, Mijn achterband is bijna leeg. means “My back tire is almost flat.”

2. Ik heb een pomp die je kunt lenen.

   I have a pump you can borrow.

   Ik heb

   I have

   pomp

   pump

   die

   that / which

   je kunt

   you can

   lenen

   borrow

   More detail

   Ik heb means “I have” here. heb is the first-person singular present form of hebben (“to have”): ik heb, jij/je hebt, wij hebben. The subject Ik is the person who possesses the pump. pomp means “pump.” Its usual definite form is de pomp, and its plural is pompen. In this sentence, een before it introduces an unspecified pump; it does not by itself state a numerical count. die refers here to pomp and introduces a relative clause: “that/which.” Because pomp is a singular de-word, Dutch uses die; a singular het-word generally takes dat instead. In the relative clause, die is the thing that can be borrowed. je kunt means “you can.” kunt is the present form of the modal verb kunnen with je/jij as subject. Je can refer to one person or more than one person; this form alone does not specify the number. The modal pattern is je kunt + infinitive, as in Je kunt wachten (“You can wait”). lenen is the infinitive “to borrow.” After a modal such as kunt, the lexical verb remains in the infinitive and appears at the end of this relative clause. Lenen can also mean “to lend” in another construction, so the surrounding roles matter; here, je is the borrower of the pump. Together, Ik heb een pomp says “I have a pump,” and die je kunt lenen adds “that you can borrow.” The complete utterance is therefore: “I have a pump you can borrow.”

3. Moet ik eerst op een lek controleren?

   Should I check for a leak first?

   Moet ik

   should I

   eerst

   first

   lek

   leak

   controleren

   check

   More detail

   Moet ik combines moet, the present-tense form of moeten (“must/should”), with ik (“I”). Here, the modal asks whether the speaker ought to perform the action; it does not itself mean “check.” Dutch main-clause questions commonly place the finite verb before the subject: Moet ik wachten? — “Should I wait?” With a different subject, the pronoun changes; the verb also changes when required by person or number. For example, Moeten wij wachten? means “Should we wait?” eerst means “first” or “before doing something else.” It sets the order of the proposed action. Example: Was eerst je handen. — “Wash your hands first.” lek is the noun “leak.” Its plural is lekken. In this utterance, een lek means an unspecified leak, while het lek can refer to a specific leak already identifiable in context. Example: Er zit een lek in de band. — “There is a leak in the tire.” controleren is the infinitive “to check” or “to inspect.” A useful pattern is iets controleren (“check something”); for checking whether a problem is present, Dutch also uses controleren op iets (“check for something”). In this sentence, op een lek identifies what is being checked for. Example: Controleer de band op schade. — “Check the tire for damage.” Together, Moet ik ... controleren? asks whether the speaker should check, eerst places that action first, and op een lek specifies that the check is for a leak. The whole utterance means: “Should I check for a leak first?” In the supplied context, this is proposed as a step before adding air.

4. Kijk langs de zijkant van de band voordat je lucht bijpompt.

   Look along the sidewall before adding air.

   Kijk

   look

   langs

   along

   zijkant

   sidewall

   band

   tire

   voordat

   before

   je

   you

   lucht

   air

   bijpompt

   pumps in more

   More detail

   Kijk is the imperative of kijken (“to look”). The imperative addresses the listener directly and normally has no expressed subject: Kijk! means “Look!” The same verb in a neutral present-tense statement is ik kijk (“I look”) or je kijkt (“you look”). langs means “along” and marks the path or direction of looking here. It is also used in patterns such as langs de weg (“along the road”). zijkant means “side” or, in this context, “sidewall.” It is a compound noun: zij (“side”) + kant (“side”), but the useful word to learn as a whole is zijkant. With the article, the sentence has de zijkant; zijkant is a de-word noun. The phrase de zijkant van de band specifies which side: the side of the tire. band means “tire” in this context. Dutch band can have other meanings in other contexts, so the surrounding repair vocabulary identifies the intended sense here. de band is “the tire.” voordat means “before” and introduces an event that must happen earlier than another event. It is a subordinating conjunction, so the finite verb normally comes at the end of its clause: voordat je vertrekt means “before you leave.” je is the informal second-person pronoun, “you,” and it is the subject of the subordinate clause here. With present-tense verbs, je normally takes the verb form without the final -t when it stands immediately after the verb, but here it comes before the verb: je pompt (“you pump”). lucht means “air.” In lucht bijpompen, it is the thing being added or pumped into something. Dutch often uses a noun directly with a verb in this way: water drinken means “to drink water.” bijpompt is the present-tense form of bijpompen, “to pump in more” or “to top up by pumping.” The prefix bij- adds the idea of supplementing an existing amount. Here je bijpompt means “you add more air”; the form agrees with the subject je in this word order. bijpompen is separable in finite main clauses, as in Je pompt lucht bij (“You pump in air”), but in this subordinate clause it appears together at the end: voordat je lucht bijpompt. The imperative Kijk is followed by the path phrase langs de zijkant van de band, “along the sidewall of the tire.” The conjunction voordat then introduces the earlier-checking step: je lucht bijpompt, “you add air.” Together, the utterance means: “Look along the sidewall of the tire before adding air.”

5. Kun je me laten zien hoe ik hem moet vastmaken?

   Can you show me how to attach it?

   Kun je

   can you?

   me

   me

   laten zien

   show

   hoe

   how

   ik

   I

   hem

   it

   moet

   must / need to

   vastmaken

   attach / fasten

   More detail

   Kun je begins a yes/no question. kun is the present-tense form of kunnen (“can, be able to”) used with je (“you”); in this inverted question, the subject follows the verb: Kun je ...? The pattern is a reusable way to ask whether someone can or is willing to do something. The infinitive normally comes later in the clause: Kun je helpen? means “Can you help?” me is the object form of ik (“I”), meaning “me” here. With verbs such as laten zien, it marks the person who is shown something: Laat me zien ... means “Show me ...”. laten zien is the Dutch construction for “show”, literally using laten (“let, have”) with zien (“see”). In this sentence it is an infinitive construction after kun: Kun je me laten zien ...? A useful direct request is Laat me zien ... (“Show me ...”). hoe introduces the method or procedure being asked about: “how”. It can introduce a subordinate clause, as in Ik weet hoe het werkt. (“I know how it works.”) ik is the subject form meaning “I”. It is the subject of the subordinate clause introduced by hoe, not the subject of the opening question. In that clause, Dutch places the finite verb later than in a main-clause question: hoe ik ... moet (“how I must ...”). hem is the object form of the third-person singular pronoun used here for the translated “it”. The fixed translation identifies the intended referent only as “it”; this pronoun form is used for a singular masculine or masculine-type referent in Dutch. As an object, it receives the action: Ik zie hem means “I see him/it” when the context supports that reading. Dutch also has het for “it” with a neuter referent, so the pronoun must agree with the referent’s grammatical type. moet is the present-tense singular form of moeten (“must, need to”). Here it expresses what ik needs to do: hoe ik ... moet ... means “how I need to ...”. In a subordinate clause, the finite modal verb appears near the end, while the associated infinitive comes after it: Ik moet gaan (“I must go”), but hoe ik moet gaan (“how I must go”). vastmaken is the infinitive meaning “attach” or “fasten”. It is a separable verb: in a main clause its parts can separate, as in Ik maak hem vast (“I fasten it”), while the infinitive remains together as vastmaken after another verb such as moet: ik moet hem vastmaken. The form vastmaken is built from vast (“firmly/securely”) and maken (“make”), but it should be learned as the verb “to fasten/attach” in this use. Together, me laten zien means “show me”, and hoe ik hem moet vastmaken means “how I need to attach it”. The whole question is therefore Kun je me laten zien hoe ik hem moet vastmaken? — “Can you show me how to attach it?” The question asks for a demonstration or explanation of the procedure; the subordinate clause specifies what should be shown.

6. Druk dit deel op het ventiel en pomp langzaam.

   Press this part onto the valve and pump slowly.

   Druk

   press

   dit

   this

   deel

   part

   op

   onto

   ventiel

   valve

   pomp

   pump

   langzaam

   slowly

   More detail

   Druk is the imperative of drukken (“to press”). In a direct instruction, Dutch commonly uses the verb stem: druk! = “press!” The form does not show whether the addressee is singular or plural; the context supplies that. dit means “this” and points to something near the speaker or otherwise identifiable in the situation. Here it agrees with the following singular neuter noun deel: Dutch uses dit with a singular neuter noun. Compare deze with a singular common-gender noun or with plural nouns. The exact physical identity of the part is not specified by the sentence. deel means “part” or “piece.” Its plural is delen. In dit deel, it is the noun selected by the demonstrative, producing “this part.” op expresses placement or pressure onto a surface or object in this instruction. The reusable pattern is iets op iets drukken = “press something onto something.” Here op het ventiel identifies the destination of the pressing action. ventiel means “valve.” It is a neuter noun, so the definite article is het: het ventiel. Its plural is ventielen. pomp is the imperative of pompen (“to pump”). As with druk, the imperative here has the same form as the verb stem. The coordination Druk ... en pomp ... gives two instructions in sequence: press the part, and pump. langzaam means “slowly” here because it modifies the action pomp. Dutch commonly uses this form as an adverb without an extra ending. The same word can also be an adjective in another structure, as in een langzaam proces (“a slow process”). Together, dit deel is “this part,” op het ventiel specifies where to press it, and pomp langzaam gives the second instruction and its manner. The complete utterance therefore means: “Press this part onto the valve and pump slowly.”

7. De band voelt nu stevig genoeg aan.

   The tire feels firm enough now.

   band

   tire

   voelt … aan

   feels

   nu

   now

   stevig

   firm

   genoeg

   enough

   More detail

   band means “tire” here. It is a common Dutch noun with article de: de band. The same word can refer to other kinds of band in other contexts, so its intended meaning here comes from the tire-related translation and context. voelt ... aan is the separated form of the verb aanvoelen, “to feel” or “to feel/seem to the touch.” In the sentence, voelt is the present-tense form for the subject de band, while the separable particle aan appears at the end. Example: De stof voelt zacht aan. — “The fabric feels soft.” nu means “now” and places the observation in the present situation. It does not itself express how long the condition has lasted. stevig means “firm” or “solid” in this context. It is a descriptive adjective. Example: De stoel voelt stevig aan. — “The chair feels sturdy.” genoeg means “enough” and follows the adjective in stevig genoeg, meaning “firm enough.” This pattern expresses that the degree of firmness meets the relevant standard: warm genoeg means “warm enough.” Together, de band voelt ... aan says that the tire has a certain tactile quality, nu locates that observation now, and stevig genoeg says the firmness is sufficient. The complete meaning is: “The tire feels firm enough now.”

8. Breng de pomp terug als je klaar bent.

   Bring the pump back when you finish.

   Breng

   bring

   de pomp

   the pump

   terug

   back

   als

   when

   je

   you

   klaar

   finished

   bent

   are

   More detail

   Breng is the imperative of brengen, “to bring.” In this sentence it gives a direct instruction; the subject is understood as “you.” Useful forms include brengen (infinitive), brengt (present form with je/jij or u in relevant contexts), and bracht (past tense). Example: Breng het boek. — “Bring the book.” de pomp means “the pump.” Pomp is a common-gender Dutch noun, so it takes the definite article de. The article identifies a specific pump in this context; it does not itself state a number. Example: De pomp is zwaar. — “The pump is heavy.” terug adds the meaning “back,” indicating a return to an earlier place or position. With brengen, the reusable pattern is iets terugbrengen: “to bring something back.” Example: Breng de sleutel terug. — “Bring the key back.” als introduces the condition or time point “when” here. It connects the instruction with the situation in the next clause. In other contexts, als can also introduce a condition such as “if”; the intended reading here is “when,” as fixed by the translation. je is the informal singular “you” form. Here it is the subject of the subordinate clause. The form does not identify any additional participant beyond the addressee. klaar means “finished” or “ready.” Here it describes the addressee’s state after completing the relevant task. Example: Ik ben klaar. — “I am finished.” bent is the present-tense form of zijn, “to be,” used with je/jij and also with u in the relevant present-tense pattern. In je klaar bent, the verb appears at the end of the clause because this is an als-clause. Compare the main-clause order Je bent klaar. — “You are finished.” Together, Breng de pomp terug means “Bring the pump back.” The following clause, als je klaar bent, specifies when to do it: “when you finish” or literally “when you are finished.” Thus the complete utterance is an instruction to bring the pump back once the addressee has finished.