Breakdown of Op maandag sporten ze in het park.
in
in
op
on
maandag
Monday
het park
the park
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
sporten
to exercise / to play sports
Questions & Answers about Op maandag sporten ze in het park.
Why do we use op before maandag?
In Dutch, the preposition op is used to say 'on' a specific day of the week, just like in English. So, op maandag means 'on Monday'.
Why is maandag written with a lowercase letter?
Unlike in English, days of the week in Dutch are not capitalized. You only use a capital letter if the day is the very first word of the sentence.
Why does the sentence say sporten ze instead of ze sporten?
This is because of the Dutch 'verb second' rule. Since the sentence starts with the time phrase Op maandag, the verb sporten must take the second position in the sentence. The subject ze gets pushed to right after the verb.
Is sporten a verb here?
Yes! While 'sport' is mainly a noun in English, sporten is a very common Dutch verb. It covers all kinds of physical activities, meaning 'to exercise', 'to work out', or 'to play sports'.
Could I use zij instead of ze in this sentence?
Yes, you can use zij. However, ze is the unstressed version of the word 'they' and is much more common in everyday spoken Dutch unless you specifically want to emphasize who is exercising.
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