Learn Dutch: De actrice grijpt haar bij de heup. - The actress grabs her by the hip.

In Dutch, when describing an action done to someone's body, it is common to make the person the object of the sentence and use a definite article like de or het for the body part. So instead of saying the actress grabs her hip (grijpt haar heup), it is more natural to say she grabs her by the hip (grijpt haar bij de heup).

Since haar means both the object pronoun her and the possessive pronoun her, how do we know which one it is here?

The sentence structure gives it away. If haar were a possessive pronoun, it would be placed directly in front of the noun it owns, as in bij haar heup. Because haar stands alone before the prepositional phrase bij de heup, it functions as the direct object pronoun representing the person being grabbed.

Why use the preposition bij instead of aan or op?

Bij is the standard preposition used for seizing, grabbing, or taking hold of a specific body part, similar to taking someone by the hand. Op is usually used for a surface hit or pat, such as a pat on the back, while aan often implies pulling or holding onto something attached, like pulling on an arm.

Is it grammatically wrong to say De actrice grijpt haar heup?