Breakdown of 's Middags wandelen we in het park.
in
in
wandelen
to walk (for pleasure)
het park
the park
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about 's Middags wandelen we in het park.
What does the 's in 's Middags mean?
It is a leftover from an old Dutch word, des, which meant "of the". Today, 's middags translates to "in the afternoon" or "in the afternoons". We use this special form to talk about habits and things that happen regularly during that part of the day.
Why is Middags capitalized but 's is lowercase at the beginning of the sentence?
In Dutch, the little 's is never capitalized, even when it is the very first thing in a sentence. Instead, the capital letter shifts to the first letter of the main word right next to it. That is why we write 's Middags and never 'S middags.
Why is the word order wandelen we instead of we wandelen?
This happens because the sentence starts with the time phrase 's Middags. In Dutch, whenever you put something other than the subject at the start of your sentence, the verb and the subject swap places. This rule is called inversion. Because of the time phrase, we wandelen flips to wandelen we.
Could I say In de middag wandelen we instead of using 's Middags?
Yes, you can. In de middag means "in the afternoon" and is perfectly correct. However, 's middags is extremely common when talking about routines (meaning "afternoons" in general), so it is a great phrase to practice using for your daily habits.