Wij hebben gisteren in het park gelopen.

to have

Breakdown of Wij hebben gisteren in het park gelopen.

• wij: we
• in: in
• lopen: to walk
• het park: the park
• gisteren: yesterday

Questions & Answers about Wij hebben gisteren in het park gelopen.

Why is it 'hebben ... gelopen' instead of simply 'liepen'?

Dutch has two past tenses that can sometimes both translate to the English past tense. One is the simple past (e.g., 'Wij liepen' – “We walked”), and the other is the perfect tense (e.g., 'Wij hebben gelopen' – “We have walked”). 'Wij hebben gisteren in het park gelopen' can imply a completed action or emphasize the experience of walking yesterday. It’s often more conversational in Dutch to use 'hebben gelopen' in many contexts where English would just use the simple past.

What does the word 'gisteren' literally mean, and why is it in the middle of the sentence?

'Gisteren' means 'yesterday' in Dutch. Word order in Dutch can be quite flexible, but typically temporal words like 'gisteren' often come shortly after the subject and auxiliary (here, 'Wij hebben'). You could also see it at the start of the sentence ('Gisteren hebben wij in het park gelopen'), which is equally valid. The middle placement is very natural-sounding in everyday Dutch.

Why do we say 'in het park' and not 'naar het park'?

Saying 'in het park' focuses on being inside the park: you were walking within the park. If you said 'naar het park', it would mean “to the park,” emphasizing traveling to rather than walking around in the park. Dutch uses 'in' to mean being inside a location, and 'naar' to indicate movement toward a destination.

Can we drop 'Wij' and still be correct?

In spoken Dutch, it’s common to drop the subject if it’s clear who’s being referred to. However, in written or more formal Dutch, it’s better to keep 'Wij'. So you might hear “Hebben gisteren in het park gelopen” in casual conversation, but grammatically it’s advisable to include 'Wij' so the sentence is clearer.

Is there a shorter or more direct way to say “We walked in the park yesterday”?

Yes, you could omit 'gisteren' for a simpler sentence if the time is already understood: “Wij hebben in het park gelopen.” Or rearrange it to: “Gisteren hebben wij in het park gelopen.” But there’s no single shorter verb form in Dutch for “walked” that replaces 'hebben gelopen' if you need the perfect tense.