Breakdown of Wij zijn trots op onze passie.
zijn
to be
wij
we
op
on
onze
our (de-words, plurals)
trots
proud
de passie
the passion
trots zijn op
to be proud of
Questions & Answers about Wij zijn trots op onze passie.
Why does this sentence use op instead of a literal translation like van for "of"?
In Dutch, many adjectives have "fixed prepositions" that don't match their English equivalents. The adjective trots (proud) is always followed by op when you are proud of something or someone. You simply have to memorize trots op as a set pair, as trots van sounds completely unnatural to a native speaker.
If I want to say "We are proud of it" instead of "our passion", how does the sentence change?
You cannot say trots op het. In Dutch, when a preposition like op refers to "it", you must use a pronominal adverb. The word het changes to er (there) and attaches to the preposition. You would say: Wij zijn er trots op (literally: We are there proud on).
Why is the word for "our" written as onze here and not ons?
The choice between onze and ons depends on the gender of the noun that follows. Passie is a de-word (de passie). For all de-words and all plural words, you must use onze. You only use ons for singular het-words (like ons huis).
Could I use We instead of Wij in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely. Wij and we both mean "we". Wij is the strong form, used when you want to put a little extra focus or emphasis on the subject (meaning "We are proud...", perhaps implying that others aren't). We is the unstressed form and is actually more common in everyday, casual speech.
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