Breakdown of Wij sporten normaal op donderdag.
wij
we
op
on
donderdag
Thursday
sporten
to exercise / to play sports
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?