Wij lezen in november.

Wij means we.

In Dutch, wij and we are both subject pronouns meaning we. In many everyday sentences, we is more common in speech, while wij can sound a bit more full, clear, or emphatic.

So these are both possible:

• Wij lezen in november.
• We lezen in november.

Both mean the same thing here.

Because the subject is wij (we).

Dutch verbs change depending on the subject. The verb here is lezen, from the infinitive lezen meaning to read.

Present tense of lezen:

• ik lees = I read
• jij leest = you read
• hij/zij/het leest = he/she/it reads
• wij lezen = we read
• jullie lezen = you all read
• zij lezen = they read

So with wij, the correct form is lezen.

It is in the present tense.

However, just like in English, the present tense can have different meanings depending on context. Wij lezen in november could mean:

• We read in November as a habitual statement
• We are reading in November
• We will read in November if the sentence is talking about a planned future action

Dutch often uses the present tense for future meaning when the time expression makes the meaning clear.

Dutch uses in with months, just like English usually does.

Examples:

• in november = in November
• in mei = in May
• in de winter = in the winter

So in november is the normal way to say that something happens during that month.

In Dutch, names of months are normally written with a lowercase letter.

So:

• november
• december
• januari

This is different from English, where November is capitalized.

It would only be capitalized in Dutch if it came at the beginning of a sentence.

Yes, absolutely.

Dutch word order changes when you move another element to the front of the sentence. If in november comes first, the finite verb must come second:

• Wij lezen in november.
• In november lezen wij.

Both are correct.

The second version puts more focus on in november.

No, normally you must include the subject pronoun in Dutch.

So you say:

• Wij lezen in november.

Not just:

• Lezen in november.

Dutch usually needs the subject to be stated clearly, unlike languages such as Spanish or Italian.

No. Lezen is the general Dutch verb for to read.

It can be used for reading many things, for example:

• een boek lezen = to read a book
• de krant lezen = to read the newspaper
• een e-mail lezen = to read an email

So in this sentence, lezen simply means read, without telling us exactly what is being read.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide would be:

• wij sounds roughly like vay
• lezen sounds roughly like LAY-zuhn

So the whole beginning, wij lezen, is approximately vay LAY-zuhn.

A few notes:

• Dutch w sounds more like an English v
• ij is a Dutch vowel sound that English does not have exactly, but ay is a useful approximation
• The first syllable of lezen is stressed

Yes, it is a complete sentence.

Dutch, like English, can use read without naming the object if the meaning is general or already understood from context.

So Wij lezen in november is grammatically complete, even though it does not specify a book, an article, or anything else.

If you want to add an object, you can:

• Wij lezen een boek in november. = We read a book in November.
• Wij lezen de krant in november. = We read the newspaper in November.