Breakdown of We koken vandaag samen.
samen
together
vandaag
today
koken
to cook
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about We koken vandaag samen.
Why do we use koken here instead of the stem (ik-form)?
Because the subject is we (we). In Dutch, plural subjects like we, jullie (you all), and zij/ze (they) always use the full dictionary form (the infinitive) of the verb. You only use the stem for singular subjects.
The stem (ik-form) of this verb is kook. Why does the infinitive koken only have one 'o'?
This is a common Dutch spelling rule to keep vowels sounding "long". In the word ko-ken, the 'o' is at the end of a syllable (an "open" syllable), so it automatically sounds long. In the stem kook, the vowel is trapped between consonants (a "closed" syllable), so it must be doubled to keep that same long 'o' sound.
Why does vandaag (today) come before samen (together)?
In Dutch, expressions of time like vandaag usually come as early as possible, right after the verb. English often puts time at the very end of the sentence ("We cook together today"), but Dutch strongly prefers putting the time before other details like how you do something (samen).
Does we koken mean "we cook" or "we are cooking"?
It can mean both! Dutch doesn't have a separate verb form for things happening right now. Depending on the context, we koken can be translated as "we cook" (in general) or "we are cooking" (right now).
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