Word
In de speeltuin komen de kinderen vrolijk naar de schommel en het klimrek rennen.
Meaning
In the playground, the children come running happily to the swing and the climbing frame.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of In de speeltuin komen de kinderen vrolijk naar de schommel en het klimrek rennen.
en
and
het kind
the child
in
in
naar
to
Questions & Answers about In de speeltuin komen de kinderen vrolijk naar de schommel en het klimrek rennen.
Why do we use the bare infinitive rennen instead of a present participle like rennend for 'running'?
This is a special rule for the verb komen when expressing a manner of arrival. Instead of using a participle like in English ('come running'), Dutch uses komen plus a bare infinitive (an infinitive without te). The same rule applies to other methods of motion, such as komen fietsen (come cycling) or komen vliegen (come flying).
Why are komen and rennen separated by so many words?
This sentence uses the classic Dutch verb brace. The conjugated verb komen sits in the second position, while the infinitive rennen is pushed to the very end of the clause. All the descriptive details—how they run (vrolijk) and where they go (naar de schommel en het klimrek)—must be sandwiched between them.
Why is it komen de kinderen instead of de kinderen komen?
This is a quick refresher on inversion. Because the sentence starts with the location phrase In de speeltuin, the conjugated verb komen must stay in the strict second position. This forces the subject de kinderen to slide into the third position, immediately after the verb.
Why is the adverb vrolijk placed before the destination phrase?