Breakdown of Je moet hen beiden bij het project betrekken.
het project
the project
bij
at / near / by
moeten
to have to, must
hen
them (object)
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
beiden
both (people)
betrekken
to involve
Questions & Answers about Je moet hen beiden bij het project betrekken.
Why does beiden have an -n at the end here instead of just beide?
You add an -n to beide when it refers to people and acts as a noun or pronoun rather than an adjective before a noun. In the phrase hen beiden (both of them), it stands on its own to refer to people, so it gets the -n. If it were modifying a noun, like 'both projects', it would just be beide projecten.
Could I use ze or hun instead of hen?
You cannot use hun here, because hun is for possession ('their') or indirect objects. Hen is the correct direct object pronoun for people ('them'). While you might hear ze beiden in casual speech, hen beiden is the standard, more emphatic way to say 'both of them'.
Why is the preposition bij used instead of in for 'in the project'?
Prepositions often do not translate word-for-word. In Dutch, the fixed combination for 'to involve someone in something' is iemand ergens bij betrekken. Because we are using the verb betrekken, we must use bij.
Why is betrekken at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard Dutch word order for modal verbs. The conjugated verb moet (must) takes the second position in the sentence, pushing the main action verb betrekken (to involve) to the very end as an infinitive.
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