When you are at a live music festival, there is a lot going on around you. To describe watching, listening to, or feeling actions as they happen, Dutch uses verbs of perception like zien (to see), horen (to hear), and voelen (to feel).
Perception Verbs with a Bare Infinitive
When you witness someone or something performing an action, you can express this using a perception verb followed by a bare infinitive (the full dictionary form of the verb, without te).
To form these sentences, conjugate the perception verb (zien, horen, or voelen) in the main position. The person or thing performing the action becomes the direct object, and the action they are doing gets pushed to the very end of the clause.
| We see the musician perform at the festival. | We zien de muzikant op het festival optreden. |
| I hear the audience cheer very loudly. | Ik hoor het publiek heel hard juichen. |
This pattern works exactly the same as sentences with modal verbs or the verb laten. The conjugated verb takes the main spot, while the infinitive action anchors the end of the sentence.
| We feel the stage vibrate a little. | We voelen het podium een beetje trillen. |
Asking Questions
If you want to ask if someone else is seeing, hearing, or feeling the same thing, simply invert the subject and the perception verb to form a question. The bare infinitive stays in its place at the end of the sentence.
| Do you hear the musician play the guitar? | Hoor je de muzikant gitaar spelen? |
| Do you hear the people cheer and clap? | Hoor jij de mensen juichen en klappen? |