Ik wil water drinken zoals Anna.

I want to drink water like Anna.

Breakdown of Ik wil water drinken zoals Anna.

• ik: I
• Anna: Anna
• drinken: to drink
• het water: the water
• willen: to want
• zoals: like

Questions & Answers about Ik wil water drinken zoals Anna.

Why is there no article before water?

In Dutch, when talking about substances in a general or uncountable sense (like water, melk, etc.), an article is often omitted. This is similar to saying “I want to drink water” in English rather than “I want to drink the water” or “a water.”

Why do we use wil instead of something like zou willen?

Ik wil… translates to “I want…” and directly expresses desire in the present tense. If you wanted to sound more polite or less direct, you might say Ik zou graag… willen, which is akin to “I would like to…” in English. But in this sentence, wil is simply the straightforward way of saying “want.”

Why is drinken in its infinitive form?

In Dutch, after a helping verb like willen (want), you typically use the infinitive form of the main verb (drinken in this case). This parallels English usage: “I want to drink,” where “to drink” is the infinitive.

What does zoals mean in this context?

Zoals here means “like” or “as.” So Ik wil water drinken zoals Anna suggests “I want to drink water in the same way that Anna does” or “like Anna does.” You might also encounter net als, which can serve a similar function.

Why is Anna capitalized?

Anna is a proper noun (a person’s name). In Dutch, as in English, proper nouns are capitalized, so you write Anna with a capital A.