Breakdown of De trein komt om half acht.
acht
eight
komen
to come
de trein
the train
half
half (past) / half (fraction)
Questions & Answers about De trein komt om half acht.
Why does half acht mean half past seven instead of half past eight?
In Dutch, half hours are counted by looking forward to the next hour. So, half acht literally means halfway to eight, which is 7:30. This is a very important rule to remember, especially if you are used to British English where half eight means 8:30!
Why do we use the word om in this sentence?
The word om translates to at when you are talking about a specific time on the clock. Whenever you want to say that an event happens at a certain time, you use om.
Why is the verb komt and not komen?
The subject of the sentence is de trein (the train), which is singular. To conjugate the infinitive verb komen (to come) for a singular third-person subject like he, she, or it, we take the stem kom and add a -t, making it komt.