Breakdown of Wij hebben in het weekend veel gefietst.
wij
we
hebben
to have
veel
much / many / a lot of
in
in
fietsen
to cycle
het weekend
the weekend
Questions & Answers about Wij hebben in het weekend veel gefietst.
Why do we use hebben here instead of zijn?
Verbs of motion like fietsen (to cycle) can take either auxiliary verb! You use hebben when you are simply describing the activity itself, like here where the focus is just on the act of cycling a lot. You only use zijn if you mention a specific destination or a directed path, like Wij zijn naar het strand gefietst (We cycled to the beach).
How do I know where to put veel in this sentence?
In a perfect tense sentence, the past participle (gefietst) goes at the very end. The adverb veel (a lot) directly modifies the verb, so it is placed right before it. Dutch also follows the rule of putting time phrases like in het weekend early in the sentence, right after the conjugated verb (hebben).
Could I say op het weekend like we say "on the weekend" in English?
No, Dutch specifically uses the preposition in for the weekend: in het weekend. Translating "on the weekend" literally as op het weekend sounds unnatural to a Dutch speaker. You could also use tijdens het weekend (during the weekend), but in is the most common and natural choice.
Why does gefietst end in -t instead of -d?
This is a quick reminder of the 't kofschip rule! If you take the stem of the verb fietsen (which is fiets), it ends in s. Because s is a voiceless sound (and is one of the consonants in 't kofschip), the past participle gets a -t at the end instead of a -d.
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