Breakdown of Hij is met de auto naar het postkantoor gereden.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
de auto
the car
met
with
Questions & Answers about Hij is met de auto naar het postkantoor gereden.
Why does this sentence use is instead of heeft for 'drove'?
In Dutch, verbs of motion like rijden (to drive) change their helping verb depending on the context. Because this sentence mentions a specific destination (naar het postkantoor), you must use a form of zijn (here, is). If he were just driving around without a destination, you would use hebben instead (Hij heeft gereden).
Why do we use met for 'by car'?
When talking about modes of transportation, Dutch uses the preposition met (literally 'with'). While in English you travel 'by' car, in Dutch it is always met de auto, met de trein (by train), met de bus (by bus), and so on.
Why does met de auto come before naar het postkantoor?
This follows the standard Dutch word order rule often remembered as Time-Manner-Place. Met de auto describes the manner (how he traveled), and naar het postkantoor describes the place or destination. In Dutch sentences, the manner generally comes before the place.
Why is gereden placed at the very end of the sentence?
In the Dutch present perfect tense, the conjugated helping verb (is) takes the second position in the sentence, while the past participle (gereden) gets pushed all the way to the end of the clause.