Breakdown of Fiets je om kwart over acht naar het station?
acht
eight
naar
to
fietsen
to cycle
het station
the station
om
at (time)
het kwart
the quarter
over
past, in (time)
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
Questions & Answers about Fiets je om kwart over acht naar het station?
Why is there no word for "a" before kwart?
In English you say "at a quarter past", but Dutch just uses the word kwart (quarter) by itself. You don't use een (a/an) when telling time, so it is simply kwart over acht.
Why do we use om before the time?
In Dutch, the preposition om is used to mean "at" when you are talking about a specific time on the clock. So om kwart over acht translates directly to "at a quarter past eight".
Why is it Fiets je without a "-t" at the end of the verb?
Normally, the je or jij (you) form gets a "-t" added to the verb stem (for example: je fietst). However, in a question where the verb comes before je, that "-t" is dropped. That is why it is Fiets je? and not "Fietst je?".
Could I put the time at the end of the sentence, like in English?
It is much more natural to put it where it is right now. In Dutch, time expressions like om kwart over acht usually come early in the sentence, right after the verb and subject. Dutch prefers to state when something happens before stating where someone is going (naar het station).
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