Learn Dutch: Hoi, ben je thuis?

Normally, "you are" is je bent. But in Dutch, there is a special rule for the "you" form: when the verb comes before je or jij in a question, you drop the -t at the end. That is why it becomes ben je instead of bent je.

Why do we use thuis instead of huis?

Huis simply means "house" (the physical building). Thuis is a special combined word that means "at home". Because thuis already includes the meaning of "at", you don't need to add an extra preposition before it.

Could I say ben jij thuis instead of ben je thuis?

Yes, you can! Je and jij both mean "you" (informal). Je is the unstressed version that people use most of the time in casual conversation. You would use jij if you really wanted to emphasize the word "you".

How is the question word order working here?

To make a simple yes/no question in Dutch, you just swap the order of the subject and the verb. A normal statement is je bent (you are), but to ask a question, you put the verb first to make it ben je (are you).