Learn Dutch: Mijn moeder adviseerde mij om vroeg naar bed te gaan.

To report a command, request, or advice, Dutch often uses an om ... te clause. Here, adviseerde mij (advised me) is followed by om vroeg naar bed te gaan (to go to bed early). This works very much like the English structure 'advised me to do something'.

Why are om and te gaan separated by the rest of the words?

In an om ... te clause, om comes at the beginning of the phrase and te + the infinitive verb (here, gaan) must go at the very end. All other information, like vroeg naar bed (early to bed), gets sandwiched in between them.

Could I use a dat (that) clause instead of om ... te here?

Yes, you could say Mijn moeder adviseerde dat ik vroeg naar bed zou gaan (My mother advised that I should go to bed early). However, using om ... te is much more concise and natural when reporting a direct instruction given to a specific person.

Why do we say naar bed instead of translating 'to' as aan or tot?

When talking about moving to a physical destination or a standard daily location like bed, school, or work, Dutch uses the preposition naar. So 'to go to bed' is always naar bed gaan.