Word
Onze collega fietst naar het werk.
Meaning
Our colleague cycles to work.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Onze collega fietst naar het werk.
het werk
the work
naar
to
fietsen
to cycle
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
Questions & Answers about Onze collega fietst naar het werk.
Why is it onze collega and not ons collega?
Onze means "our". In Dutch, you use onze with de-words and all plural words, and ons with singular het-words. Because collega is a de-word (de collega), we must use onze.
Why does the verb end in -t (fietst) if onze refers to multiple people?
Even though onze means "our" and refers to a group of people, the actual subject of the sentence is the collega. Because there is only one colleague (singular), we use the singular verb form for "he/she/it": the stem (fiets) plus -t to make fietst.
Why is there a het in naar het werk? The English translation just says "to work".
In English, we drop the word "the" in phrases like "going to work". Dutch, however, often keeps the article in these everyday expressions. The standard way to say "to work" is naar het werk (literally "to the work").