Breakdown of We parkeren vanavond de auto in de stad.
de auto
the car
in
in
de stad
the city
parkeren
to park
Questions & Answers about We parkeren vanavond de auto in de stad.
Why does vanavond come before in de stad?
This is a golden rule of Dutch word order: Time comes before Place! In English, we usually say "in the city tonight" (Place then Time), but Dutch flips this. The time (vanavond) must come before the place (in de stad).
Why does de auto go between the time and the place?
When you have a specific direct object (the thing being acted upon, like de auto), it usually goes right after the time and before the place. So the Dutch pattern here is Time (vanavond), Object (de auto), then Place (in de stad).
The translation says "are parking", but there's no word for "are" in the Dutch sentence. Why?
Dutch does not use an "is/are doing" continuous form like English does. The simple present tense verb parkeren translates to both "park" and "are parking".
Is vanavond related to the Dutch word for evening?
Yes! Avond means "evening". Vanavond literally means "of evening", but it is used as a single word to mean "this evening" or "tonight". You will see this same pattern in vandaag (today) and vanmorgen (this morning).