Breakdown of Mijn vader scheert zich 's avonds.
mijn
my
de vader
the father
zich scheren
to shave
's avonds
in the evening
Questions & Answers about Mijn vader scheert zich 's avonds.
What does 's avonds mean here, and why does it have an apostrophe?
It translates to "in the evening" or "evenings", showing that his shaving is a regular routine. The 's is an old abbreviation for des (an old word for "of the"). You will see this same pattern in other daily routines like 's morgens (in the morning).
Why do we need the word zich?
The verb scheren (to shave) is a reflexive verb in Dutch, meaning you do it to yourself. While English just says "My father shaves", Dutch explicitly says "My father shaves himself" by adding the reflexive pronoun zich.
Where does 's avonds belong in the sentence structure?
Time expressions in Dutch usually come after the main verb and any object or reflexive pronoun like zich. So the standard order is Subject (Mijn vader) + Verb (scheert) + Reflexive (zich) + Time ('s avonds).
What happens if I want to put 's avonds at the start of the sentence to emphasize the time?
You would say 's Avonds scheert mijn vader zich. Notice two things: the verb scheert must stay in the second position (swapping places with mijn vader), and we capitalize the A in Avonds, never the little s!