Over twee weken sturen wij de publicatie naar hen.
In two weeks we will send the publication to them.
Breakdown of Over twee weken sturen wij de publicatie naar hen.
wij
we
twee
two
naar
to
over
past, in (time)
de week
the week
sturen
to send
hen
them (object)
de publicatie
the publication
Questions & Answers about Over twee weken sturen wij de publicatie naar hen.
Why do we use hen in this sentence instead of hun?
This follows the strict rule for formal written Dutch: always use hen after a preposition (in this case, naar). You only use hun for an indirect object that does not have a preposition.
How would the sentence look if I dropped the preposition naar?
If you remove the preposition, the pronoun becomes a prepositionless indirect object (meaning "to them" is implied by the grammar). According to formal writing rules, you must then switch to hun. The sentence becomes: Over twee weken sturen wij hun de publicatie.
Why does the sentence start with over instead of in for "in two weeks"?
When talking about an event that will happen a certain amount of time from now (like "two weeks from today"), Dutch uses over. If you say in twee weken, it means "within a duration of two weeks" (for example, "I can read this book in two weeks").
Do Dutch people actually maintain this strict hen versus hun distinction in everyday conversation?
In everyday speech, no. Many native speakers mix them up, often using hun after prepositions, or they avoid the issue entirely by using the unstressed pronoun ze. However, maintaining the strict separation is important for formal writing, professional emails, and language exams.
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