Wij maken een mooie wandeling in het park.

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Breakdown of Wij maken een mooie wandeling in het park.

• in: in
• het park: the park
• mooi: nice
• de wandeling: the walk

Questions & Answers about Wij maken een mooie wandeling in het park.

What is the literal translation of Wij maken een mooie wandeling in het park?

Literally, it translates to "We make a beautiful walk in the park". However, idiomatically in English we say "We are taking a nice walk in the park", because in Dutch the expression "een wandeling maken" is used to mean going for a walk.

Why is the verb maken used with wandeling instead of a verb like gaan (to go)?

In Dutch, the idiomatic expression for taking a walk is "een wandeling maken". Even though maken literally means to make, it is conventionally paired with wandeling to convey the idea of going on a walk, much like the English phrase "take a walk".

How does the adjective mooie agree with the noun wandeling?

In Dutch grammar, when an adjective is placed before a common-gender noun that is preceded by an indefinite article, it receives an -e ending. Since wandeling is a common-gender noun (using de in its definite form), the adjective must be inflected as "mooie" rather than the bare form "mooi".

Why is the noun park preceded by het instead of de?

Nouns in Dutch are either common-gender or neuter. Park is a neuter noun, and therefore it takes the definite article het. This is why you have "het park" rather than "de park".

Is the word order in this sentence similar to English, and can it be modified for emphasis?

Yes, the sentence follows the subject-verb-object-adverbial order, which is quite similar to English. Although Dutch does allow for some flexibility (for example, you might say "In het park maken wij een mooie wandeling" to emphasize the location), the standard order "Wij maken een mooie wandeling in het park" is typical in everyday use.