Deciding which task to do first | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. Ik heb vanmorgen te veel taken.

   I have too many tasks this morning.

   Ik heb

   I have

   vanmorgen

   this morning

   te veel

   too many

   taken

   tasks

   More detail

   Ik heb means “I have” here. heb is the first-person singular present form of hebben (“to have”): ik heb, jij hebt, hij/zij heeft. Dutch uses this verb not only for ownership, but also for having or experiencing something, as in Ik heb tijd (“I have time”). vanmorgen means “this morning.” It is a time expression formed with van (“of/from”) and morgen (“morning/tomorrow,” depending on context); in this sentence the intended meaning is the morning of today. A common contrasting expression is vanmiddag (“this afternoon”). te veel means “too many” with the plural noun that follows it. The pattern te veel + plural noun indicates an excessive quantity: te veel vragen means “too many questions.” With an uncountable noun, the same expression is usually translated “too much,” as in te veel werk (“too much work”). taken means “tasks.” It is the plural of taak (“task”): een taak → taken. The vowel changes in the plural, so taken is not formed by simply adding a regular plural ending to the visible stem. Example: Ik heb twee taken means “I have two tasks.” Together, Ik heb + vanmorgen + te veel + taken produces: “I have too many tasks this morning.” The sentence states that the speaker has an excessive number of tasks during this morning; it does not state how many tasks there are.

2. Zet ze eerst op volgorde van prioriteit.

   List them by priority first.

   Zet

   put; arrange

   ze

   them

   eerst

   first

   volgorde

   order; sequence

   prioriteit

   priority

   More detail

   Zet is the imperative of zetten (“to put” or “to place”). Here it is used more abstractly: arrange the items in a particular order. The imperative addresses one or more people directly and does not state the subject. Example: Zet de boeken op tafel. — “Put the books on the table.” ze is the unstressed object pronoun meaning “them” here. It refers to the items being arranged, with the supplied translation identifying them as the objects of the instruction. Dutch ze can also have other grammatical roles in other sentences, so its role here comes from its position after the verb and from the intended meaning. eerst means “first” in this instruction: do this before the other relevant steps. It is an adverb and does not change form. Example: Lees eerst de vraag. — “Read the question first.” volgorde means “order” or “sequence”. The fixed expression op volgorde means “in order” or “arranged in an order”. The noun is a de-word: de volgorde. prioriteit means “priority”. In volgorde van prioriteit, the phrase van prioriteit specifies which ordering principle is used: priority. Thus, the items are ordered according to how important or urgent they are, rather than merely being placed in an arbitrary sequence. The noun is a de-word: de prioriteit. Together, Zet ze op volgorde van prioriteit means “Arrange them in order of priority.” Placing eerst in the sentence makes the instruction “Arrange them by priority first,” matching the fixed translation. The whole utterance is a direct instruction: Zet gives the command, ze names what must be arranged, and op volgorde van prioriteit gives the ordering pattern.

3. Deze e-mail is dringend.

   This email is urgent.

   Deze

   this

   e-mail

   email

   is

   is

   dringend

   urgent

   More detail

   Deze means “this” here and is the demonstrative used with a singular common-gender noun. Dutch uses deze e-mail; with a singular neuter noun, the corresponding form is dit, as in dit rapport (“this report”). E-mail is the noun for an email. Its plural is e-mails, as in Ik stuur twee e-mails (“I am sending two emails”). Is is the third-person singular present form of zijn (“to be”). It is used with a singular third-person subject, as in Het rapport is belangrijk (“The report is important”). Other subject persons use different present forms, such as ik ben (“I am”) and jij bent (“you are”). Dringend means “urgent” here. As a predicate after zijn, it appears without an adjective ending: De situatie is dringend (“The situation is urgent”). Before a noun, an adjective generally takes an ending; for example, een dringende vraag means “an urgent question.” Together, Deze e-mail identifies one email, is links it to a description, and dringend describes its urgency. The complete meaning is “This email is urgent.”

4. Het rapport is belangrijk.

   The report is important.

   rapport

   report

   is

   is

   belangrijk

   important

   More detail

   rapport means “report” here. It is a Dutch noun and uses the neuter article: het rapport (“the report”). The form stays rapport in this sentence; the article carries the definiteness and grammatical gender information. is is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) for a singular third-person subject. The pattern het rapport is ... is reusable for describing one report or other singular subject. For example: De deadline is duidelijk. — “The deadline is clear.” belangrijk means “important” here. It is an adjective describing the report. After zijn, Dutch commonly uses the adjective in this unchanged predicative form: Het rapport is belangrijk. Its comparative is belangrijker (“more important”), and its superlative is het belangrijkst (“the most important”) in a definite superlative phrase. Together, het rapport identifies one specific report, is links that subject to a description, and belangrijk supplies the description. The complete meaning is “The report is important.”

5. Wanneer is de deadline voor het rapport?

   When is the report deadline?

   Wanneer

   when

   is

   is

   deadline

   deadline

   voor

   for

   rapport

   report

   More detail

   Wanneer means “when” and asks about a time. It is a question word; compare waar (“where”) and wie (“who”), which ask about different kinds of information. Example: Wanneer begint de les? — “When does the lesson start?” is is the present-tense form of zijn (“to be”) for a singular subject, including “it” or a singular noun. Example: De deadline is morgen. — “The deadline is tomorrow.” deadline is a noun meaning “deadline”: the latest time by which something should be completed. In Dutch, many nouns can be used in an international form such as this one; its article and grammatical behavior should be learned with the noun in context. voor means “for” here and introduces the thing to which the deadline relates. It can have other meanings in other contexts, but in this sentence it links the deadline with het rapport. rapport is a noun meaning “report.” With the definite article, it appears here as het rapport, meaning “the report.” The article het is part of the noun phrase; it does not mean that there is more than one report. Together, de deadline voor het rapport means “the deadline for the report.” The question pattern Wanneer is ...? asks at what time or date something is. Thus Wanneer is de deadline voor het rapport? means “When is the report deadline?”

6. Het moet morgenmiddag af zijn.

   It is due tomorrow afternoon.

   moet

   must; is required to

   morgenmiddag

   tomorrow afternoon

   af zijn

   be finished; be done

   More detail

   moet is the present-tense form of moeten used with the singular subject Het. Here it expresses a requirement: something is required to be completed. The infinitive moeten is used after te in some other constructions, but after a modal such as moet, the following verb is normally an uninflected infinitive. morgenmiddag means “tomorrow afternoon.” It is a time expression formed from morgen (“tomorrow”) and middag (“afternoon”), written as one word. It specifies when the required state must hold; it does not itself express the obligation. af zijn means “be finished” or “be done.” In this expression, af describes the completed state, while zijn is the infinitive “to be.” After moet, zijn remains an infinitive: moet ... af zijn. This is different from afmaken, “finish” or “complete,” which presents the action of completing something rather than the resulting state. Together, moet + af zijn gives the pattern iets moet ... af zijn: “something must be finished ...” The subject Het is a singular, non-specific “it”; the supplied translation identifies the intended meaning as a deadline. Thus Het moet morgenmiddag af zijn. means “It is due tomorrow afternoon,” literally expressing that it must be finished by then.

7. Beantwoord dan eerst de dringende e-mail.

   Then answer the urgent email first.

   Beantwoord

   answer

   dan

   then

   eerst

   first

   dringende

   urgent

   e-mail

   email

   More detail

   Beantwoord is the imperative of beantwoorden (“to answer”). Here it gives a direct instruction. The Dutch imperative does not itself mark whether one person or several people are addressed. Beantwoorden is a non-separable verb: ik beantwoord (“I answer”) and ik heb ... beantwoord (“I have answered”), not a form with the prefix separated. dan means “then”. It places the action in sequence with another action or time. Example: Doe dat dan = “Then do that.” eerst means “first”. Together, dan eerst means “then first” in this sequence: at that stage, make this the first task. These adverbs do not inflect. dringende describes the email as urgent. Its base form is dringend. Before the singular common-gender noun in de dringende e-mail, the adjective has the -e form. Compare the practice examples een dringende e-mail (“an urgent email”) and een dringend bericht (“an urgent message”): with an indefinite singular neuter noun, the adjective has no -e ending. e-mail means “email”. It is a noun here inside the definite noun phrase de dringende e-mail. The hyphen is part of the observed spelling. Example: Ik beantwoord een e-mail = “I answer an email.” The sentence assembles as Beantwoord + dan eerst + de dringende e-mail: “Then answer the urgent email first.” The imperative supplies the instruction, dan eerst sets its sequence and priority, and the final noun phrase identifies the urgent email to be answered.

8. Daarna ga ik aan het rapport werken.

   After that I will work on the report.

   Daarna

   after that

   ga ik

   I go

   aan het

   on the

   rapport

   report

   werken

   work

   More detail

   Daarna means “after that” and places this action after an earlier event. At the beginning of the sentence, it is followed by inversion: ga ik, rather than ik ga. ga ik contains ga, the first-person singular present form of gaan, and ik, “I.” With an infinitive, gaan expresses a future action or intention: gaan + infinitive. Example: Morgen ga ik bellen. — “Tomorrow I will call.” Here gaan does not describe physical movement. aan het is part of the pattern aan het ... werken, used for working on something. In this sentence, aan introduces what the work is directed toward, while het is the definite article used with rapport. rapport means “report.” The definite noun phrase here is het rapport, “the report”; its plural is rapporten. Example: Ik lees het rapport. — “I am reading the report.” werken is the infinitive “to work.” It remains in the infinitive after gaan: ik ga werken — “I will work.” In aan het rapport werken, it completes the pattern meaning “to work on the report.” Together, Daarna + ga ik expresses “After that I will,” and aan het rapport werken expresses “work on the report.” The whole utterance is: “After that I will work on the report.”

9. Dat helpt je waarschijnlijk om je minder gestrest te voelen.

   That should help you feel less stressed.

   Dat

   That

   helpt

   helps

   je

   you

   waarschijnlijk

   probably

   minder

   less

   gestrest

   stressed

   te voelen

   to feel

   More detail

   Dat means “that” here and is the subject of the sentence. Dutch demonstratives distinguish gender and number: dat is used with a singular neuter noun or for a neuter demonstrative reference, while dit is the nearby equivalent. The exact thing referred to by dat is not identified in the supplied sentence. helpt is the present-tense form of helpen (“to help”) for a singular third-person subject such as dat. The useful pattern is iets helpt iemand om ... te ...: “something helps someone to ...”. For example: Deze tip helpt me om beter te slapen. — “This tip helps me sleep better.” je means “you” here as the person helped. Dutch je can be an unstressed form of “you” in several grammatical roles; its exact role is determined by the construction, not by a change in spelling. In this sentence, the later je is the person who experiences the feeling, linked to this same person. waarschijnlijk is an adverb meaning “probably”. It modifies the prediction expressed by the sentence rather than describing the person or the feeling. For example: Hij komt waarschijnlijk morgen. — “He will probably come tomorrow.” minder means “less” here and expresses a lower degree of the adjective gestrest. It is the comparative form associated with weinig (“little/few”); the corresponding higher-degree comparative is meer (“more”). For example: Ik ben minder moe. — “I am less tired.” gestrest is an adjective meaning “stressed” in this sentence. It describes the person’s state after voelen (“to feel”), and it does not change here for the person because Dutch predicative adjectives such as this generally do not show personal agreement. For example: Zij voelt zich gestrest. — “She feels stressed.” te voelen contains the infinitive voelen (“to feel”) with te, the marker used in this infinitival construction. The pattern om ... te voelen means “to feel ...”; in the sentence, om comes before je minder gestrest te voelen. The second je is the person experiencing the feeling, and minder gestrest describes that feeling. Together, dat helpt je says that “that” provides help to you, waarschijnlijk makes this a probability, and om je minder gestrest te voelen states the intended result: feeling less stressed. Thus the complete utterance means: “That should help you feel less stressed.”