Breakdown of Laten we tijdens het protest onze stem gebruiken.
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
gebruiken
to use
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
laten
to let (laten we ... = let's ...)
Questions & Answers about Laten we tijdens het protest onze stem gebruiken.
How does the "Let's..." structure work in this sentence?
To make a suggestion like "Let's use", Dutch uses laten we (literally "let us") right at the start of the clause. The actual action you are suggesting—gebruiken (to use)—is pushed all the way to the end of the sentence in its full dictionary form (the bare infinitive).
Why is it onze stem and not ons stem?
The word for "voice" is a de word (de stem). When saying "our", you must use onze for de words and for all plural nouns. You only use ons for singular het words (for example, if you were talking about the protest, it would be ons protest).
Why does tijdens het protest come before onze stem?
In Dutch, phrases that describe when something happens (like tijdens het protest, meaning "during the protest") usually come before the direct object (the thing you are using, which is onze stem). This follows the standard Dutch word order habit of putting time-related information early in the sentence.
Can stem mean "vote" instead of "voice"?