Breakdown of Hij zal het bericht vanmiddag schrijven.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
schrijven
to write
zullen
shall / will
het bericht
the message
vanmiddag
this afternoon
Questions & Answers about Hij zal het bericht vanmiddag schrijven.
Why is schrijven at the very end of the sentence?
This is the "verb bracket" in action! When you use a helping verb like zal (will) in the second position of a sentence, the main action verb (schrijven) gets pushed to the very end in its full dictionary form (infinitive).
Can I put vanmiddag before het bericht?
It is better to put it after. In Dutch, a specific object like het bericht (the message) usually comes before time words like vanmiddag (this afternoon). However, if you want to emphasize when it happens, you can put the time at the very beginning: Vanmiddag zal hij het bericht schrijven.
Why is the verb zal instead of zullen?
How does vanmiddag translate to "this afternoon" if van usually means "from" or "of"?
In a few specific time words, the prefix van- actually means "this". You will also see this pattern in vanmorgen (this morning) and vanavond (this evening or tonight).
Learn Hij zal het bericht vanmiddag schrijven and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free