De tijd is belangrijk wanneer wij een maaltijd koken.

to be

Breakdown of De tijd is belangrijk wanneer wij een maaltijd koken.

• wij: we
• koken: to cook
• de maaltijd: the meal
• belangrijk: important
• wanneer: when
• de tijd: the time

Questions & Answers about De tijd is belangrijk wanneer wij een maaltijd koken.

Why is it de tijd and not het tijd?

In Dutch, tijd is a masculine/feminine noun, which always takes the article de. If a noun is a so-called ‘de-woord’, you should use de and not het.

Why does the sentence use wanneer wij instead of wanneer we?

In Dutch, wij and we mean the same thing (like “we” in English), but wij tends to be more emphatic or slightly more formal. Both are correct, though, so you could also say wanneer we without changing the meaning significantly.

What is the role of wanneer in this sentence?

Wanneer is a conjunction that means “when” in a temporal sense. It is used here to indicate the time or occasion on which something happens—in this case, when we cook a meal. You can think of it as linking the phrase about time being important to the action of cooking a meal.

Is it correct to say een maaltijd koken or should I say eten koken?

Both are correct, but they can sound slightly different. Een maaltijd koken emphasizes that you’re cooking a meal, often implying a more complete or structured set of dishes. Eten koken focuses more generally on cooking food. In everyday speech, you’ll hear both.

How do I know where to place wanneer in a sentence?

In Dutch, wanneer (as a conjunction) usually comes at the start of a clause, similar to “when” in English. This means it typically introduces a subordinate clause—wanneer wij een maaltijd koken—and you place it right at the beginning of that clause, followed by the subject (wij), then the rest of the clause.