Breakdown of We gebruiken die gelegenheden om elkaar beter te leren kennen.
leren
to learn
kennen
to know
die
that / those (de-words and plurals)
gebruiken
to use
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
elkaar
each other
beter
better
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
de gelegenheid
the opportunity
Questions & Answers about We gebruiken die gelegenheden om elkaar beter te leren kennen.
What is the singular form of gelegenheden and why does it look so different?
The singular is gelegenheid (opportunity or occasion). Nouns ending in the suffix -heid form an irregular plural by changing the suffix to -heden. This is a very common pattern in Dutch you will see in words like mogelijkheid (possibility), which becomes mogelijkheden.
Why is te placed right before leren kennen instead of earlier in the sentence?
This sentence uses the om ... te (in order to) structure. In this setup, om introduces the phrase, and te must go at the very end, right before the infinitive verbs. Even though getting to know someone requires two verbs in Dutch (leren kennen), the te simply sits in front of the entire verb cluster.
Why use leren kennen here instead of just kennen or ontmoeten?
kennen means to already know someone, and ontmoeten means to meet someone for the first time. When you want to express the active process of getting to know someone better over time, Dutch uses the fixed combination leren kennen (literally: learning to know).
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