Learn Dutch: We eten samen. - We eat together.

Yes! In a standard Dutch sentence, the verb always takes the second position. Here, the subject We is in position one, and the verb eten is in position two. The rule applies perfectly even when there is no object in the sentence.

Does this mean 'We eat together' or 'We are eating together'?

It means both! Dutch does not have a separate '-ing' form like English. Depending on the situation, We eten samen translates to either 'We eat together' as a general habit, or 'We are eating together' right now.

Can I say Wij eten samen instead?

Yes, you can. Wij and we both mean 'we'. We is the unstressed, everyday version you will hear most often. You use wij when you want to emphasize who is doing the action, as if saying 'WE are eating together (but they are not)'.

Why does the verb end in -en here?

Because the subject we is plural. In Dutch, plural subjects like we, jullie (you all), and zij (they) use the plural form of the verb. This plural form is almost always exactly the same as the base dictionary form of the word, which is eten.