Ik heb een mooie herinnering aan mijn laatste verjaardag, toen ik me helemaal niet hoefde te haasten.

I have a beautiful memory of my last birthday, when I did not have to hurry at all.

Breakdown of Ik heb een mooie herinnering aan mijn laatste verjaardag, toen ik me helemaal niet hoefde te haasten.

• ik: I
• hebben: to have
• niet: not
• mooi: beautiful
• mijn: my
• een: a, an
• haasten: to hurry
• de herinnering: the memory
• laatste: last
• de verjaardag: the birthday
• helemaal: at all

Questions & Answers about Ik heb een mooie herinnering aan mijn laatste verjaardag, toen ik me helemaal niet hoefde te haasten.

Why do we say 'herinnering aan' instead of 'herinnering van'?

In Dutch, herinnering aan is the common phrase for talking about having a memory of something or someone. Literally, it's "a memory to [something]," which doesn't directly translate into English but is the standard idiom. If you said herinnering van, it would sound off to Dutch speakers.

Why is 'toen' used here instead of 'wanneer'?

In Dutch, toen is typically used for referring to a specific moment in the past, while wanneer often functions more like "when?" in a question. Since this sentence recalls a particular birthday in the past, toen fits perfectly for that context.

Why does the sentence have 'ik me' together—what is 'me' doing here?

Dutch uses reflexive pronouns in certain phrases, especially with the verb zich haasten ("to hurry oneself"). Even though in English you say "I didn’t have to hurry," in Dutch the reflexive pronoun me (myself) is commonly used, so you get ik me hoefde te haasten.

Could you explain why 'hoefde' is followed by 'te'?

The verb hoeven is usually followed by te plus another verb in the infinitive form to indicate necessity (or, in this case, the lack of it). So, hoefde (past tense of hoeven) + te + haasten is the required structure: "didn't need to hurry."

Is the word order 'helemaal niet' standard when saying 'not at all'?

Yes, "helemaal niet" is a very common phrase to emphasize "not at all" in Dutch. You generally place helemaal before niet or geen to strengthen the negation.