De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest.

Because volkstuinder is a de-word.

In Dutch, every singular noun takes either de or het. Unfortunately, this usually has to be learned with the noun. For a person, de is very common, so de volkstuinder makes sense.

• de volkstuinder = the allotment gardener / community-garden gardener

As a general rule, nouns for people are usually de-words.

Volkstuinder is a compound noun:

• volkstuin = allotment garden / community garden plot
• tuinder = grower / gardener

So volkstuinder means someone who works or gardens in a volkstuin.

Dutch often forms long compound nouns by joining smaller words together, and this is completely normal.

Because the subject is de volkstuinder, which is third-person singular: he/she/the gardener.

In the present tense, Dutch regular verbs usually work like this:

• ik snoei = I prune
• jij snoeit = you prune
• hij/zij snoeit = he/she prunes

And:

• ik bemest = I fertilize
• jij bemest = you fertilize
• hij/zij bemest = he/she fertilizes

So in De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest, both verbs agree with a singular subject.

The infinitives are:

• snoeien = to prune
• bemesten = to fertilize / manure

In this sentence:

• snoeit comes from snoeien
• bemest comes from bemesten

A useful pattern is:

• infinitive minus -en gives the stem
• then third-person singular usually adds -t

So:

• snoeien → stem snoei → snoeit
• bemesten → stem bemest → bemest

Notice that bemest already ends in t as a stem, so you do not add an extra visible t.

It is in the present tense.

So De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest means something like:

• The gardener prunes and fertilizes
• The gardener is pruning and fertilizing

Which English translation fits best depends on context, because Dutch present tense often covers both simple present and present progressive meanings.

Dutch can leave the object unstated if it is obvious from context or if the sentence is meant as a general description of what someone does.

So De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest is a natural sentence meaning:

• the gardener prunes and fertilizes
• the gardener is doing pruning and fertilizing work

If you want to be more specific, you can add an object:

• De volkstuinder snoeit de struiken en bemest de grond.
• De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest de planten.

So the original sentence is grammatical even without saying exactly what is being pruned or fertilized.

This is standard Dutch main-clause word order:

• subject
  • finite verb
    • rest

So:

• De volkstuinder = subject
• snoeit = finite verb
• en bemest = coordinated second verb

Dutch main clauses usually put the finite verb in the second position. Here the subject comes first, so the finite verb follows it.

The sentence is very straightforward and neutral.

Because the two verbs are joined by en = and, and they share the same subject:

• De volkstuinder snoeit
• De volkstuinder bemest

These are combined into:

• De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest.

This works just like in English:

• The gardener prunes and fertilizes.

You do not need to repeat the subject unless you want extra emphasis.

A rough English-friendly guide is snoo-it or snoo-eet, but not exactly.

More accurately:

• sn as in English snow
• oei is a Dutch vowel combination with no perfect English equivalent
• the final t is pronounced

The beginning snoe- is related to snoeien. If you know Dutch oe sounds like the vowel in boot (but shorter/cleaner), that helps.

A rough guide is buh-MEST.

Notes:

• be- is usually unstressed
• mest rhymes roughly with English best but with a pure Dutch e
• the final t is pronounced

So the stress is on mest: be-MEST.

It can cover both the general idea of fertilizing and specifically manuring, depending on context.

That is because mest means manure, but bemesten is also used more broadly for enriching soil with fertilizer.

So in a gardening sentence like this, bemest is often best translated simply as fertilizes.

Yes. In modern Dutch, many profession or role words can refer to a person of any gender unless the context makes it specific.

So de volkstuinder can mean:

• a male allotment gardener
• a female allotment gardener

If needed, Dutch can clarify with other words, but the noun itself does not have to change here.

In some contexts, learners may wonder about similar-looking words like tuinier and tuinder.

• tuinier usually means gardener
• tuinder often suggests someone who cultivates crops, grows produce, or works in horticulture

Volkstuinder is a natural word for someone who tends a volkstuin.
A different phrasing might exist in real usage depending on region and style, but for this sentence, volkstuinder is fine and understandable.

Because Dutch normally does not use a comma before en when it simply joins two verbs or two parts of the same sentence.

So:

• De volkstuinder snoeit en bemest.

is the normal punctuation.

This is similar to English in a simple sentence like:

• The gardener prunes and fertilizes.