Het kind went aan de geregistreerde gastouder.

Here, went aan comes from the verb wennen aan, which means to get used to or to become accustomed to.

So:

• Het kind = the child
• went aan = gets used to / is getting used to
• de geregistreerde gastouder = the registered childminder

A key point is that wennen normally goes together with aan when you say what someone is getting used to.

Examples:

• Ik wen aan mijn nieuwe baan. = I’m getting used to my new job.
• Zij went aan het weer. = She is getting used to the weather.

No. In this sentence, went is not the past tense of gaan.

It is the present tense of wennen:

• ik wen
• jij went
• hij/zij/het went

So:

• Het kind went... = The child is getting used to...

This can be confusing because went also looks like the English past tense of go, but that is just a coincidence.

Because wennen usually takes the fixed preposition aan.

In Dutch, many verbs naturally combine with a particular preposition, and this does not always match English exactly. With wennen, the normal pattern is:

• wennen aan + thing/person

So you say:

• Het kind went aan de gastouder.
• Ik moet wennen aan dit geluid.

You generally should learn wennen as wennen aan, not as a standalone verb with no preposition.

Because Dutch nouns have grammatical gender/classes that determine whether they take de or het.

• kind is a het-word → het kind
• gastouder is a de-word → de gastouder

This does not always follow natural gender. For example, kind refers to a person, but it is still grammatically het.

So in the sentence:

• Het kind = the child
• de gastouder = the childminder

You usually need to learn the article together with the noun.

That is the normal adjective ending here.

The adjective geregistreerd becomes geregistreerde because it comes before a noun and follows a definite article:

• de geregistreerde gastouder

In Dutch, adjectives before nouns often take -e. In a sentence like this, that is the expected form.

Compare:

• een geregistreerde gastouder
• de geregistreerde gastouder

In both of these, geregistreerde is correct.

A gastouder is a childcare provider, often translated as childminder. In the Netherlands, it usually refers to someone who looks after children in a home setting.

Geregistreerde means registered or officially registered. So a geregistreerde gastouder is a childminder who is officially registered, usually within the formal childcare system.

So this is more specific than just babysitter. A gastouder often suggests a recognized childcare role rather than informal babysitting.

Because wennen aan is normally not reflexive in Dutch.

You simply say:

• Ik wen aan...
• Het kind went aan...

Not:

• Ik wen me aan...
• Het kind went zich aan...

English speakers sometimes expect a reflexive structure because some languages use one for get used to, but Dutch does not here.

This is standard Dutch main-clause word order:

• Het kind = subject
• went = finite verb
• aan de geregistreerde gastouder = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is:

• Subject + verb + rest

That is very normal for a simple statement in Dutch.

If you move another element to the front, Dutch keeps the finite verb in second position:

• Aan de geregistreerde gastouder went het kind langzaam.

That sounds more marked, but it shows the usual Dutch verb-second rule.

Not exactly.

Wennen aan usually describes the process of becoming accustomed to something:

• Het kind went aan de gastouder.
  = The child is getting used to the childminder.

If you want to say someone is already accustomed to something, Dutch often uses:

• gewend zijn aan

For example:

• Het kind is aan de gastouder gewend.
  = The child is used to the childminder.

So:

• wennen aan = to get used to
• gewend zijn aan = to be used to

Yes, absolutely. Here aan is part of the fixed expression wennen aan, and the object can be a person, thing, place, or situation.

Examples:

• Ik wen aan mijn collega. = I’m getting used to my colleague.
• Zij went aan haar nieuwe school. = She is getting used to her new school.
• Wij wennen aan het lawaai. = We are getting used to the noise.

So even though aan often translates as to, in this sentence it is better to understand the whole phrase wennen aan together.

No, it is not pronounced exactly like English went.

Dutch went is pronounced with a Dutch w, which sounds more like an English v made with rounded lips. So to English ears, it may sound somewhere between vent and went, depending on accent.

The vowel is also Dutch, not exactly the same as in English.

So although it is spelled the same as the English word went, you should think of it as a completely different word with Dutch pronunciation.