Breakdown of Het pad loopt door het bos heen.
door
through
het bos
the forest
heen
to / towards (motion away)
het pad
the path
lopen
to run, lead (of a path or road)
Questions & Answers about Het pad loopt door het bos heen.
What is heen doing at the end of the sentence?
It is part of the circumposition (a two-part preposition) door ... heen. While door het bos just means "through the forest", wrapping the noun with heen emphasizes the physical path extending all the way from one side of the forest to the other.
Can I just leave heen out?
Yes, Het pad loopt door het bos is completely correct and means the same thing. Adding heen is optional, but Dutch speakers frequently use these two-part prepositions to make descriptions of space and direction feel more vivid and complete.
Why does the sentence use loopt? I thought lopen meant "to walk".
It does, but Dutch also uses lopen to describe how inanimate things like paths, roads, rivers, or borders extend across a space. It is exactly like saying a path "runs" or "goes" through the forest in English.
I remember heen from phrases like Waar ga je heen? (Where are you going?). Is this the same word?
Yes! By itself, heen indicates a direction "away" or "towards a destination". When you use it to bracket a noun in door ... heen, it brings that exact same feeling of forward momentum, suggesting the path goes all the way through the forest to somewhere else.
Learn Het pad loopt door het bos heen and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free