Breakdown of Van tien tot twaalf uur spelen de kleuters in de zandbak.
tien
ten
in
in
spelen
to play
twaalf
twelve
het uur
the hour / o'clock
tot
until
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
de kleuter
the toddler / the preschooler (ages 4-6)
de zandbak
the sandbox
Questions & Answers about Van tien tot twaalf uur spelen de kleuters in de zandbak.
The translation says "toddlers", but isn't a kleuter slightly older than a toddler?
Yes, you spotted a great vocabulary nuance! In Dutch, a peuter is a toddler (roughly ages 2 to 4). A kleuter is a child in kindergarten or the first two years of primary school (ages 4 to 6). While English often uses "toddlers" or "little kids" loosely, Dutch makes a strict educational distinction between peuters and kleuters.
Why does the sentence say Van tien tot twaalf uur instead of Van tien uur tot twaalf uur?
When expressing a time range between two hours, Dutch drops the first uur to avoid clunky repetition. You only need to place uur at the very end of the time range. It is understood that both numbers refer to times on the clock.
Just as a refresher, why does the verb come before the subject here (spelen de kleuters)?
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