Questions & Answers about Jij haast je altijd.
Why are there two words for "you" (Jij and je) in this sentence?
In Dutch, "to hurry" is a reflexive verb: zich haasten. It literally means "to hurry oneself." Jij is the subject ("you"), and je is the reflexive pronoun ("yourself"). The sentence literally translates to "You hurry yourself always."
Could I use je for both words and say "Je haast je altijd"?
Yes, absolutely! Je is the standard, unstressed word for "you", and it is also the reflexive pronoun for "yourself". Saying Je haast je altijd is very common. Here, Jij is used at the beginning to put extra emphasis on you. Just remember that the reflexive part must be the unstressed je, never jij.
If I want to say "He always hurries", do I still use je?
No, the reflexive pronoun has to match the subject. For "he" (hij), "she" (zij), and "they" (zij), the reflexive pronoun is zich. So "He always hurries" becomes Hij haast zich altijd. For "I" (ik), you would use me: Ik haast me altijd.
Why doesn't the verb haast get an extra 't' for the jij form?
The basic rule for the jij form is to take the verb stem and add a 't'. The full dictionary form is haasten, so the stem is haast. Because the stem already ends in a 't', we don't add a second one. It just stays haast.
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