Wij lezen de twaalfde pagina.

Wij means we. Dutch also has the unstressed form we.

In many everyday sentences, we is more common in speech, while wij is the full form and can be a bit more emphatic or careful. In this sentence, Wij lezen de twaalfde pagina and We lezen de twaalfde pagina mean the same thing.

Because the subject is wij.

The present tense of lezen is:

• ik lees = I read / am reading
• jij leest = you read / are reading
• hij/zij leest = he/she reads / is reading
• wij lezen = we read / are reading
• jullie lezen = you all read / are reading
• zij lezen = they read / are reading

So with wij, the correct form is lezen.

It can mean either one.

Dutch often uses the simple present where English can use either the simple present or the present progressive. So Wij lezen de twaalfde pagina can mean:

• We read the twelfth page
• We are reading the twelfth page

The context usually makes it clear which meaning is intended.

This is the normal word order for a simple main clause.

Dutch main clauses usually put the finite verb in the second position. Here:

• Wij = subject
• lezen = finite verb
• de twaalfde pagina = object

So the structure is very similar to English here: We read the twelfth page.

Twaalfde means twelfth.

It is an ordinal number, not a basic counting number. So:

• twaalf = twelve
• twaalfde = twelfth

Because Dutch distinguishes between cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers, just like English.

• twaalf = twelve
• twaalfde = twelfth

If you say de twaalfde pagina, you mean the page in the twelfth position. If you said de twaalf pagina, that would be ungrammatical in standard Dutch.

They are usually formed with -de or -ste.

Some examples:

• vier → vierde = fourth
• tien → tiende = tenth
• twintig → twintigste = twentieth

A few common ordinals are less regular:

• een → eerste = first
• drie → derde = third
• acht → achtste = eighth

So twaalf → twaalfde is a normal pattern.

De is the definite article, meaning the.

The noun pagina is a de-word, so you say:

• de pagina = the page

Because of that, the full phrase is:

• de twaalfde pagina = the twelfth page

If the noun were a het-word, you would use het instead.

Yes, in this sentence it behaves like an adjective.

Ordinal numbers in Dutch often function like adjectives when they come before a noun. That is why twaalfde stands between the article and the noun:

• de twaalfde pagina

This is the same pattern as:

• de rode auto = the red car
• het eerste hoofdstuk = the first chapter

Because in Dutch, adjectives and ordinal numbers normally come before the noun they describe.

So Dutch says:

• de twaalfde pagina

just as it says:

• de nieuwe docent = the new teacher
• het grote huis = the big house

That word order is normal.

It is singular.

Pagina means page, and the plural is pagina's. Since the twelfth page refers to one page, the singular is used here.

Yes.

There is a useful difference:

• de twaalfde pagina = the twelfth page
• pagina twaalf = page twelve

In many real situations, those can refer to the same page, but the grammar is different. Pagina twaalf is especially common when talking about page numbers, while de twaalfde pagina stresses the page's position in order.