Breakdown of De directeur bezoekt het weeshuis in de winter.
in
in
bezoeken
to visit
de winter
the winter
de directeur
the director (of a company or school)
het weeshuis
the orphanage
Questions & Answers about De directeur bezoekt het weeshuis in de winter.
How would I change this sentence to say the director visits "all orphanages" (in general) versus "all the orphanages" (specifically)?
For general plural nouns, you use alle: De directeur bezoekt alle weeshuizen (visits all orphanages). If you are talking about specific ones—for example, all the orphanages in a certain town—you use al de: De directeur bezoekt al de weeshuizen.
Why is it het weeshuis?
Weeshuis (orphanage) is a compound noun made of wees (orphan) and huis (house). In Dutch, the gender of a compound word is always determined by its final part. Because it is het huis, the combined word is automatically het weeshuis.
Do all seasons take the article de, like de winter does here?
Yes! All four seasons in Dutch—de lente (spring), de zomer (summer), de herfst (autumn), and de winter (winter)—are de words.
What happens to the word order if I move in de winter to the beginning of the sentence?
Moving the time phrase to the front triggers inversion to keep the verb in the strict second position. The verb (bezoekt) and subject (de directeur) would swap places: In de winter bezoekt de directeur het weeshuis.
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