Breakdown of Voor het hoofdgerecht kies ik liever vis.
ik
I
de vis
the fish
kiezen
to choose
liever
rather (prefer)
voor
for (on behalf of)
het hoofdgerecht
the main course
Questions & Answers about Voor het hoofdgerecht kies ik liever vis.
How do you express "prefer" in this sentence since there is no specific verb for it?
In Dutch, you typically do not use a separate verb for "prefer". Instead, you use the adverb liever (meaning "rather") alongside an action verb. Here, kies ik liever translates to "I prefer to choose" or "I would rather choose".
Why is the word order kies ik instead of ik kies?
Because the sentence starts with the phrase Voor het hoofdgerecht (For the main course). In Dutch, whenever you start a sentence with something other than the subject, the verb stays in the second position and the subject moves right after it. This rule is called inversion.
How would this sentence change if I just wanted to say "I like to choose fish" instead of "prefer"?
You would use the base word for liking an action, which is graag (gladly). You just replace liever to make it: Voor het hoofdgerecht kies ik graag vis.
What are the two words that make up hoofdgerecht?
It is a compound word built from hoofd (which literally means "head", but here means "main") and gerecht (meaning "dish" or "course").
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