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Breakdown of Ik ga naar het kantoor om te werken.
ik
I
gaan
to go
naar
to
om
for
werken
to work
het kantoor
the office
Questions & Answers about Ik ga naar het kantoor om te werken.
Why is it het kantoor and not de kantoor?
In Dutch, nouns have a grammatical gender: masculine/feminine or neuter. Kantoor is a neuter noun, so it takes the article het. That’s why we say het kantoor.
What does om te werken mean literally?
Om te is often used to express purpose, and werken means “to work.” So om te werken literally indicates “in order to work.” It shows the reason for going to the office.
Can I change the position of om te werken in the sentence?
Generally, in Dutch, phrases like om te werken come after the main part of the sentence. You might hear variants like Om te werken ga ik naar het kantoor, but it’s less common and feels more emphatic. The natural word order is Ik ga naar het kantoor om te werken.
Could I say Ik ga naar kantoor om te werken without het?
Yes, you can omit het in casual speech and say Ik ga naar kantoor om te werken, similar to saying “I’m going to work” in English. It’s grammatically correct, but might sound slightly informal since you’re literally saying “I’m going to office.”
Are there any other ways to say “I’m going to the office to work”?
You might say Ik ga naar mijn werk (“I’m going to my work”) if you mean you’re heading to your workplace. Some might also say Ik ga op kantoor werken (“I’m going to work at the office”), but the original sentence Ik ga naar het kantoor om te werken is very direct and clear.
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