Doing things as a group
To say "the two of us," "the four of them," or "you five" in Dutch, you use a special fixed phrase: met z'n followed by a number with an -en ending.
Even though z'n is normally the unstressed word for "his", in this construction it acts as a fixed expression. You will always use z'n, regardless of whether the subject is we (we), jullie (you plural), or ze (they).
| The four of us are in the escape room. | We zijn met z'n vieren in de escaperoom. |
| The two of us are looking for the symbol. | We zoeken met z'n tweeën naar het symbool. |
Notice how the numbers get a plural ending: twee becomes tweeën, drie becomes drieën, vier becomes vieren, and vijf becomes vijven.
| Yesterday the five of them were in the escape room. | Gisteren waren ze met z'n vijven in de escaperoom. |
Escape room verbs
Whether you need to crack (kraken) a puzzle or type in (intypen) a code, you can easily drop this group phrase into the middle of your sentence.
| That is why the two of us cracked the puzzle. | Daarom hebben we de puzzel met z'n tweeën gekraakt. |
| As soon as we find the symbol, the three of us will type in the code. | Zodra we het symbool vinden, typen we met z'n drieën de code in. |
Everyone together
If you want to say "all of us", "all of you", or "all of them", simply replace the number with allen (all) to form met z'n allen.
| After that, we will all type in the code. | Daarna typen we de code met z'n allen in. |
| We all have to work together, because the puzzle is difficult. | We moeten met z'n allen samenwerken, omdat de puzzel moeilijk is. |
Now it is time to hurry up (opschieten) and escape (ontsnappen)!
| The four of us have to hurry to escape. | We moeten met z'n vieren opschieten om te ontsnappen. |
| As soon as we open the door, we will all escape! | Zodra we de deur openen, ontsnappen we met z'n allen! |