Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Reporting commands with "om te"

When you want to report a command, request, or instruction, you can use a main clause with a reporting verb, followed by an infinitive clause. The infinitive clause is usually introduced by **om** and ends with **te** followed by the infinitive verb.

{{item:807897}}

{{item:807908}}

This structure is used with many verbs that express influence over someone's actions, such as **dwingen** (to force) or **adviseren** (to advise).

{{item:807911}}

{{item:807914}}

### Using nouns for commands

You can also report instructions using nouns like **het bevel** (the command) or **de opdracht** (the instruction/assignment). The **om te** clause directly follows the noun to explain what the command or instruction was.

{{item:807899}}

{{item:807905}}

### Separable verbs

Some verbs used to give commands are separable, such as **opdragen** (to instruct) and **aansporen** (to urge). When these are conjugated in the main clause, their prefix separates and moves to the end of that clause, right before the **om te** phrase begins.

{{item:807902}}

{{item:807920}}

### Commands without "om"

With some verbs, like **eisen** (to demand) or **vragen** (to ask), you will sometimes see the infinitive clause formed with just **te** and the infinitive, omitting **om**. Both forms are grammatically correct, though including **om** is very common in modern Dutch.

{{item:807923}}

{{item:807925}}

Reported commands

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

determiner/pronoun

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular pronouns and 'to be' (ik ben, hij is)

The formal 'you' (u bent)

Definite articles (de, het)

Plural pronouns and 'to be' (wij zijn)

The verb 'to have' (hebben)

Basic word order

Numbers 1 to 10 (een, twee, drie)

Verb stems and the 'I' form (ik werk)

Long vowels in verb stems (maken, ik maak)

Short vowels in verb stems (zitten, ik zit)

Present tense singular (-t)

Present tense plural (-en)

Yes/no questions

Question words (wie, wat, waar)

Noun negation (geen)

Plural nouns (-en)

Plural nouns (-s)

Diminutives (-je)

Adjective modifiers (heel, erg, te)

Verb negation (niet)

Singular possessives (mijn, jouw, zijn, haar)

Plural and formal possessives (ons/onze, jullie, hun, uw)

This and these (deze, dit)

That and those (die, dat)

Asking which (welke, welk)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elf, twaalf, dertien...)

Tens and compound numbers (dertig, veertig...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (eerste, tweede...)

Telling time: hours and half hours (uur, half)

Telling time: quarters (kwart over, kwart voor)

Question words (hoeveel, waarom)

Irregular verbs (doen, gaan, staan, zien, komen)

Adjective endings (+e)

Adjectives with 'het' words

Prepositions of place (uit, bij)

Subject-verb inversion

Time before place

Modal verbs (willen, kunnen)

Modal verbs (moeten, mogen)

The verb bracket

Separable prefix verbs

The imperative mood (kom, luister)

Singular object pronouns (mij, jou, hem, haar)

Plural and formal object pronouns (ons, jullie, hen, u)

Reflexive verbs and pronouns (zich, me, je)

Position of negation (niet)

The present perfect tense with regular verbs (hebben gewerkt)

The present perfect tense with motion verbs (zijn gegaan)

Irregular past participles (gezien, gedaan)

The present continuous (zijn aan het)

There is / there are (er is, er zijn)

Unstressed there (er)

And, but, or (en, maar, of)

Because (want)

Months of the year

Prepositions of time (om, van ... tot)

Greetings and politeness

Conversational glue

Prepositions with days (op)

Prepositions with seasons (in)

Genitive of time ('s morgens, 's nachts)

Adverbs of frequency (altijd, vaak)

The future tense (gaan)

The future tense (zullen)

Separable verbs with auxiliary verbs

Apostrophe plurals ('-s)

Irregular plurals (-eren)

Complex diminutives (-pje, -etje, -kje)

Possessive 's (Jan's, vaders)

Indefinite pronouns (iets, niemand, alles)

Indefinite subject pronoun (je)

Reciprocal pronoun (elkaar)

Comparative adjectives (-er dan)

Comparatives with spelling change (-der)

Superlative adjectives (-st)

Irregular comparisons (beter, meer, minder)

Expressing preference (graag, liever, het liefst)

Equality comparisons (even ... als)

Fixed prepositions

That clauses (dat)

Because clauses (omdat)

If and when clauses (als)

Inversion after clauses

Separable verbs in clauses

Negation in clauses (niet)

Past tense of to be (was / waren)

Past tense of to have (had / hadden)

Question	Answer
to command / to order (someone to do something)	bevelen
The king commanded the soldier to fight.	De koning beval de soldaat om te vechten.
I command you to open the door!	Ik beveel je om de deur te openen!
the command / the order	het bevel
The police gave the order to close the highway.	De politie gaf het bevel om de snelweg af te sluiten.
Had you heard the order to leave?	Had jij het bevel om weg te gaan gehoord?
to instruct / to task	opdragen
The boss instructs me to clean the kitchen immediately.	De baas draagt mij op om de keuken meteen schoon te maken.
She instructed him to get the groceries.	Zij droeg hem op om de boodschappen te halen.
the instruction / the assignment	de opdracht
The teacher gave the student the assignment to read the book.	De leraar gaf de student de opdracht om het boek te lezen.
We had received the instruction to wait outside.	Wij hadden de opdracht gekregen om buiten te wachten.
to forbid	verbieden
The doctor forbids me to smoke.	De arts verbiedt mij om te roken.
They forbid us to swim in the river.	Ze verbieden ons om in de rivier te zwemmen.
to force	dwingen
He forced the victim to give the money.	Hij dwong het slachtoffer om het geld te geven.
I did not want to force you to answer.	Ik wilde je niet dwingen om te antwoorden.
to advise	adviseren
My mother advised me to go to bed early.	Mijn moeder adviseerde mij om vroeg naar bed te gaan.
We advise you to check the contract.	Wij adviseren u om het contract te controleren.
to beg	smeken
The child begs his parents to stay.	Het kind smeekt zijn ouders om te blijven.
She begged him to pay the rent.	Zij smeekte hem om de huur te betalen.
to urge	aansporen
The teacher urges the student to study more.	De docent spoort de student aan om meer te studeren.
I urged my friend to apply.	Ik spoorde mijn vriend aan om te solliciteren.
to demand	eisen
The customer demands to speak to the manager.	De klant eist de manager te spreken.
They asked us to sign the document.	Ze vroegen ons om het document te ondertekenen.
The judge demands him to tell the truth.	De rechter eist van hem om de waarheid te vertellen.