Breakdown of Wij sporten normaal op donderdag.
wij
we
op
on
donderdag
Thursday
sporten
to exercise / to play sports
normaal
normally / normal
Questions & Answers about Wij sporten normaal op donderdag.
Why do we use op before donderdag?
In Dutch, you use the preposition op to say that something happens on a specific day of the week, just like in English. So, op donderdag means 'on Thursday'.
Why isn't donderdag written with a capital letter?
Unlike English, Dutch does not capitalize days of the week, months, or seasons unless they are the very first word of the sentence.
Wait, is sporten a verb here? In English, 'sport' is usually a noun.
Yes! In Dutch, sporten is a very common verb that means 'to work out', 'to exercise', or 'to play sports'. Since the subject is wij (we), the verb takes the full plural form sporten.
If I want to express 'on Thursdays' (plural), does the sentence change?
You could add '-en' to make the day plural: op donderdagen. However, because this sentence includes the word normaal (normally), using the singular donderdag already clearly implies it is a habit that happens every week.
Could I start this sentence with Op donderdag instead?
Yes, you can! But remember that Dutch uses 'Verb Second' word order. If you put the time phrase first, the verb (sporten) must stay in the second position, and the subject (wij) swaps to the third spot. The sentence becomes: Op donderdag sporten wij normaal.
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