De vrienden gaan morgen naar het park.

The friends are going to the park tomorrow.

Breakdown of De vrienden gaan morgen naar het park.

• gaan: to go
• morgen: tomorrow
• naar: to
• het park: the park
• de vrienden: the friends

Questions & Answers about De vrienden gaan morgen naar het park.

Why is De vrienden used instead of just vrienden?

In Dutch, you need an article when referring to a specific group of people or things. De is the definite article used with plural nouns (and most singular common nouns). So, De vrienden explicitly refers to a certain group of friends.

Why does the sentence use gaan in the present tense to talk about a future event?

In Dutch, it's common to use the present tense with a time indication (like morgen) for near-future actions. It implies a plan or arrangement. You could also use zullen if you want to emphasize a future intention, but gaan + time reference is perfectly natural for future meaning.

Does the word order matter? Can we say Morgen gaan de vrienden naar het park instead?

Yes, you can say Morgen gaan de vrienden naar het park. Placing morgen at the beginning emphasizes the time. However, the basic structure remains subject + verb + time + the rest—it just shifts when you want to highlight a certain part of the sentence.

What is the role of naar in naar het park?

Naar is a preposition that generally means "to" in English. It indicates direction or movement towards a place. So naar het park means "to the park."

Why is the article het used before park, instead of de?

In Dutch, nouns can be de-words or het-words. There's no simple rule for all nouns, and you often have to learn them individually. Park happens to be a het-word, hence naar het park.