The Genitive of Time
To talk about routines during a specific part of the day, Dutch uses a historical genitive form (short for des): an 's before the word and an -s at the end.
- 's morgens (in the morning)
- 's middags (in the afternoon)
- 's avonds (in the evening)
- 's nachts (at night)
In a sentence starting with the subject, these time phrases appear after the verb.
| I usually shower in the morning. | Ik douche meestal 's morgens. |
| We like to drink tea in the afternoon. | Wij drinken 's middags graag thee. |
| My father shaves in the evening. | Mijn vader scheert zich 's avonds. |
| The dog sleeps in the kitchen at night. | De hond slaapt 's nachts in de keuken. |
Starting a Sentence with Time
You can also place these time expressions at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize when a routine happens. Doing this triggers inversion: the verb and subject swap places.
Notice the strict capitalization rule: because an apostrophe cannot be capitalized, the 's stays lowercase, and the first letter of the noun gets capitalized instead.
| In the afternoon we walk in the park. | 's Middags wandelen we in het park. |
| In the morning I never hear the alarm clock. | 's Morgens hoor ik de wekker nooit. |
Daily Routines
These time expressions are perfect for describing daily habits, such as showering, eating breakfast, or brushing your teeth.
| She brushes her teeth in the morning. | Zij poetst 's morgens haar tanden. |
You can also use them with separable verbs like uitslapen (to sleep in). Remember that the prefix detaches and moves to the end of a simple main clause.
| She sleeps in today. | Zij slaapt vandaag uit. |
