Breakdown of Wij koken het avondeten samen.
wij
we
samen
together
koken
to cook
het avondeten
the evening meal
Questions & Answers about Wij koken het avondeten samen.
This lesson focuses on words like 's avonds. Why don't we use 's avonds here instead of avondeten?
's avonds is a time expression meaning "in the evening" or "in the evenings", while het avondeten is a noun meaning "the evening meal" or "dinner". You use 's avonds to say when you do something, but here the sentence is talking about the physical thing that is being cooked.
How do I know whether to use "de" or "het" for compound words like avondeten?
Could I add 's avonds to this sentence to say "We cook dinner together in the evenings"?
Yes, but it sounds a bit repetitive since both words use avond. You could grammatically say Wij koken 's avonds het avondeten samen, but it is much more natural for a Dutch speaker to just say Wij koken 's avonds samen (We cook together in the evenings).
Why is "samen" placed at the very end of the sentence?
In standard Dutch word order, the direct object (the thing receiving the action, which is het avondeten here) usually comes before adverbs that describe how an action is done. Therefore, samen (together) goes after the meal you are cooking.
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