Breakdown of Wanneer eet je meestal in Nederland?
eten
to eat
in
in
wanneer
when
meestal
usually
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
Nederland
the Netherlands
Questions & Answers about Wanneer eet je meestal in Nederland?
Wait, is this asking me specifically when I eat, or people in general?
It can be both, but in this context, je is used as an indefinite pronoun. It means 'one' or 'people in general'. So a better translation in your head might be 'When do people usually eat in the Netherlands?' English does the exact same thing when we say 'How do you make a cake?' instead of 'How does one make a cake?'.
I thought the verb loses its -t when it comes before je. Why is it eet je?
You are right that verbs lose their added -t when they come before je or jij (like werk je instead of werkt je). However, the verb here is eten (to eat). If you take off the -en, the stem is eet. Because that -t is part of the base word, it stays!
Why is the order eet je instead of je eet?
Because this is a question starting with a question word (Wanneer). In Dutch, the verb always insists on being the second idea in the sentence. Since Wanneer takes the first spot, the verb (eet) must take the second spot, forcing the subject (je) to move behind it. This is called inversion.
Could I put meestal at the end of the sentence: 'Wanneer eet je in Nederland meestal?'
It is much better to keep meestal right after the subject (je). In Dutch, adverbs that describe time (like meestal, vaak, or soms) generally want to sit as close to the beginning of the sentence as possible, right after the verb and subject.
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