Word
Waar wonen onze vrienden?
Meaning
Where do our friends live?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Waar wonen onze vrienden?
de vriend
the friend
wonen
to live
waar
where
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
Questions & Answers about Waar wonen onze vrienden?
Why do we use onze here instead of ons for "our"?
In Dutch, the word for "our" changes depending on the noun's gender and number. You use onze for de-words and for all plural nouns. Because vrienden (friends) is plural, we must use onze. You only use ons for singular het-words.
Why doesn't this sentence use a word for "do" like the English translation?
Dutch doesn't use helper verbs like "do" or "does" to ask questions. Instead of saying "Where do our friends live?", the Dutch sentence is built literally as "Where live our friends?".
Why is the verb wonen placed before the subject onze vrienden?
In questions that start with a question word like Waar (Where), the verb always takes the second position in the sentence. The subject (onze vrienden) has to come immediately after the verb.
Why is the verb wonen in its full form ending in -en?
The subject of the sentence is onze vrienden (our friends), which is a plural subject. In the Dutch present tense, plural subjects (we, you all, they) always take the full dictionary form of the verb, which usually ends in -en.