Zij wandelen in het weekend.

Questions & Answers about Zij wandelen in het weekend.

How do I know zij means "they" and not "she" here?
You can tell by looking at the verb! Zij can mean "she" or "they". Because the verb is wandelen (the plural form, which looks just like the infinitive), we know it must mean "they". If it meant "she", the verb would be singular: zij wandelt.
Why does the verb wandelen end in -en?
In Dutch, plural subjects (like "we", "you all", and "they") take the plural form of the verb in the present tense. For regular verbs like this one, the plural form is exactly the same as the full infinitive dictionary verb: wandelen.
Why do we use in instead of a word for "on"?
Prepositions rarely match up perfectly between languages. While North American English speakers say "on the weekend" and British speakers say "at the weekend", Dutch speakers say in het weekend. You just have to memorize this specific combination!
Since weekend is an English word, why does it use het?
Loanwords from English still get assigned a gender in Dutch. Weekend happens to be a neuter word, so it uses the neuter "the" word, het. There isn't a strict rule for loanwords, so it is best to learn the noun and article together as het weekend.

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