Breakdown of Hij is moe, dus hij gaat naar bed.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
moe
tired
het bed
the bed
naar
to
gaan
to go / to go off (of an alarm)
dus
so, therefore
Questions & Answers about Hij is moe, dus hij gaat naar bed.
Why doesn't the word order change after dus?
Dus (so/therefore) works like a connecting word, similar to en (and) or maar (but). It links two normal sentences together without mixing up the word order. That is why the second part starts with a standard subject and verb: hij gaat.
Why is it naar bed instead of naar het bed?
Just like in English, where we say "going to bed" (not "going to the bed"), Dutch drops the article here. Naar bed gaan is a set phrase that simply means you are going to sleep.
The English translation says "is going", so why does the Dutch sentence only use one verb (gaat)?
Dutch does not have a direct equivalent for the English "-ing" form (like "is going" or "is sleeping"). The simple present tense verb gaat translates to both "goes" and "is going" depending on what makes sense in English.
How do you pronounce moe?
The oe combination in Dutch sounds a lot like the "oo" in the English word "shoe" or "moo". So the word moe sounds exactly like the sound a cow makes!
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