Word
Ik werk 's avonds niet.
Meaning
I do not work in the evening.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Ik werk 's avonds niet.
Where does the 's in 's avonds come from?
It is a leftover from old Dutch grammar. It is an abbreviation of des, which meant 'of the'. The extra -s at the end of avond is also part of this old structure. Today, you just memorize it as a fixed expression for routines, meaning 'in the evening' or 'evenings'.
Does this mean I am not working this evening, or I never work in the evenings?
It means you generally do not work in the evenings as a routine. If you wanted to say you are not working specifically this evening, you would use the word vanavond instead of 's avonds.
Why is niet at the very end of the sentence instead of right after the verb?
In Dutch, the negative word niet normally comes after a definite time expression. Since 's avonds tells us exactly when this happens, niet must be placed after it.
Could I start the sentence with 's avonds?
Yes! If you want to emphasize the time of day, you can say 's avonds werk ik niet. Remember that placing the time at the start of the sentence causes the verb werk and the subject ik to swap places.