Jij mag met me spreken als je tijd hebt.

You may speak with me when you have time.

Breakdown of Jij mag met me spreken als je tijd hebt.

• jij: you
• hebben: to have
• spreken: to speak
• met: with
• je: you
• de tijd: the time
• me: me
• mogen: may

Questions & Answers about Jij mag met me spreken als je tijd hebt.

Why does the sentence use ‘Jij’ instead of ‘Je’?

In Dutch, ‘jij’ and ‘je’ both mean you (singular). ‘Jij’ is the stressed form, often used to emphasize the person you’re speaking to (like “YOU may speak with me…”). ‘Je’ is more neutral and is used in everyday speech without special emphasis.

Why do we say ‘met me spreken’ instead of ‘met mij spreken’?

‘Me’ is the unstressed form of ‘mij’, and it’s commonly used in spoken Dutch when the pronoun is not emphasized. ‘Mij’ is perfectly correct, but it emphasizes me more strongly.

What’s the difference between using ‘mag’ and ‘kan’ in this context?

‘Mag’ comes from the verb ‘mogen’, which means to be allowed to or may. It suggests permission. ‘Kan’ comes from ‘kunnen’, which is to be able to or can. So ‘Jij mag met me spreken’ focuses on permission, whereas ‘Jij kan met me spreken’ focuses more on ability.

Can we say ‘Jij mag spreken met me’ instead of ‘Jij mag met me spreken’?

While grammatically it might still be understood, it sounds off to most Dutch speakers. The common and natural order is ‘met me spreken’. If you put ‘spreken’ before ‘met me’, it disrupts the usual word flow in Dutch.