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Breakdown of Ik kijk naar de spiegel na het eten.
ik
I
het eten
the food
na
after
de spiegel
the mirror
kijken
to look
Questions & Answers about Ik kijk naar de spiegel na het eten.
Why do we say kijk instead of kijken in this sentence?
In Dutch, kijken is the infinitive form, just like "to look" in English. For the first-person singular ik ("I"), you remove the -en ending and add a -k, making it kijk.
Why is naar used after kijk?
In Dutch, the verb kijken is typically followed by naar when referring to the object you're looking at. It's similar to how in English we say "look at," but in Dutch, naar is the preferred preposition.
Why is it de spiegel instead of het spiegel?
In Dutch, each noun is either a "de-woord" or a "het-woord." Spiegel (mirror) is classified as a masculine/feminine noun, so it takes the article de.
Why do we say na het eten rather than something like na te eten?
In Dutch, na is followed by a noun phrase or pronoun. Na het eten treats het eten as a noun phrase meaning "the eating" or "the meal." The structure na te eten isn't standard Dutch. You could also see nadat ik heb gegeten ("after I have eaten") if you wanted a full clause, but na het eten is the concise way to say it.
Can the word order na het eten kijk ik naar de spiegel also be correct?
Yes, Dutch allows some flexibility in word order for emphasis. By placing na het eten at the beginning, you emphasize the time frame first. Both Ik kijk naar de spiegel na het eten and Na het eten kijk ik naar de spiegel are acceptable, though the nuance of focus can shift slightly.
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