De cursus begint op donderdag.

Because cursus is a de-word in Dutch. Dutch nouns have grammatical gender, and for singular nouns you usually learn them with either de or het.

So:

• de cursus = the course

Unfortunately, there is no perfect rule that lets you predict all nouns, so it is best to memorize cursus together with its article.

Because the subject is de cursus, which is third person singular: the course.

The verb beginnen means to begin / to start, and it changes depending on the subject:

• ik begin = I begin
• jij begint = you begin
• de cursus begint = the course begins
• wij beginnen = we begin

So in this sentence, begint is the correct form.

The sentence follows normal Dutch main clause word order:

De cursus + begint + op donderdag
subject + finite verb + time expression

This is very common in Dutch. The important thing to notice is that in a normal main clause, the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

Yes. That is also correct.

Dutch often allows you to move the time expression to the front:

• De cursus begint op donderdag.
• Op donderdag begint de cursus.

Both mean the same thing. But when you put op donderdag first, the verb must still stay in second position, so the subject moves after the verb:

• Op donderdag begint de cursus
• not: Op donderdag de cursus begint

This is a very important Dutch word order pattern.

In Dutch, op is commonly used with days of the week, just like English uses on:

• op maandag = on Monday
• op donderdag = on Thursday

So op donderdag is the normal way to say on Thursday.

It can sometimes depend on context, but in this sentence De cursus begint op donderdag, it normally means it starts on Thursday — a specific starting day.

In other contexts, op donderdag can also mean on Thursdays or every Thursday, especially when talking about repeated actions.

For example:

• Ik werk op donderdag. = I work on Thursday / on Thursdays

So the exact meaning comes from the whole sentence, not just op donderdag by itself.

Because in Dutch, days of the week are normally not capitalized.

So Dutch writes:

• maandag
• dinsdag
• woensdag
• donderdag

This is different from English, where Monday and Thursday are capitalized.

They would only be capitalized in Dutch if they came at the beginning of a sentence.

Usually, yes. Cursus often means course, especially a class, training course, or series of lessons.

Examples:

• een taalcursus = a language course
• een computercursus = a computer course

It is a very common word in educational contexts.

It can often be translated as either begins or starts.

The verb is beginnen, which means to begin or to start. In many everyday situations, English uses start where Dutch uses beginnen.

So:

• De cursus begint op donderdag = The course begins on Thursday / The course starts on Thursday

Both are natural translations.

A rough pronunciation is:

buh-GINT

A few details:

• be- is usually unstressed, like a short buh
• gint has the Dutch g, which is a throat sound that does not exist in standard English
• the i is short, like in English bit

If you cannot produce the Dutch g yet, that is very normal for English speakers.

A rough guide is:

DON-der-dakh

A few notes:

• Stress is on the first syllable: DON
• The final sound in -dag uses the Dutch g/ch sound, not a normal English g
• The o in the first syllable is short

Dutch pronunciation varies a bit by region, but this rough pattern will help.

Yes. You can also say:

De cursus start op donderdag.

That is natural Dutch too. In many contexts, beginnen and starten are very similar.

Very roughly:

• beginnen is the more basic, traditional verb
• starten is also very common and can sound slightly more modern or practical in some contexts

Both are correct here.