Learn Dutch: Je moet hen beiden bij het project betrekken. - You must involve both of them in the project.

Je moet hen beiden bij het project betrekken.

You must involve both of them in the project.

Breakdown of Je moet hen beiden bij het project betrekken.

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?