Word
Wij haasten ons naar het station.
Meaning
We hurry to the station.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Wij haasten ons naar het station.
Why is the word ons in this sentence? English just says 'We hurry'.
In Dutch, the verb for 'to hurry' is zich haasten. It is a reflexive verb, meaning it always needs a reflexive pronoun (words like 'myself', 'yourself', or 'ourselves'). Because the subject is wij (we), the matching reflexive pronoun is ons. Literally, the Dutch say 'We hurry ourselves'.
Where exactly do I put the reflexive pronoun in a sentence?
In a standard main sentence like this one, the reflexive pronoun comes right after the conjugated verb. So the order is Subject (Wij) + Verb (haasten) + Reflexive pronoun (ons).
Why do we use naar for 'to' the station?
The word naar is the preposition you use for physical movement toward a destination. Whenever you are traveling or going to a building, a city, or a country, you will use naar.
I see het station. Is there a rule for why it takes het instead of de?
The word station is a neuter noun, which means it takes the article het. There is no simple rule to predict this, so it is best to always memorize the article along with the noun: het station.