Ik fiets naar de bakkerij.

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Breakdown of Ik fiets naar de bakkerij.

• naar: to
• fietsen: to bike
• de bakkerij: the bakery

Questions & Answers about Ik fiets naar de bakkerij.

Is "fiets" in this sentence used as a noun or as a verb?

In this sentence, fiets is the conjugated form of the verb fietsen, meaning “to cycle” or “to bike.” Since it follows the subject ik (“I”), it indicates that the speaker is performing the action of cycling.

What does the phrase naar de bakkerij mean, and how is it structured?

The phrase naar de bakkerij translates to “to the bakery.” The preposition naar is used to indicate direction or destination, while de bakkerij is a noun phrase with the definite article de, signifying a specific bakery.

Why is the definite article de used with bakkerij instead of het?

In Dutch, every noun is assigned a gender—either common or neuter. The word bakkerij is a common gender noun, which takes the definite article de rather than het. Hence, de bakkerij correctly means “the bakery.”

How does the word order in this sentence compare with typical Dutch sentence structure?

This sentence follows the standard Dutch word order for main clauses: Subject-Verb followed by additional information. Here, ik is the subject, fiets is the verb, and naar de bakkerij is a prepositional phrase indicating the direction of the action. This structure mirrors the simple Subject-Verb-Object (or complement) order, similar to English.

How is the verb fietsen conjugated for the subject ik in this sentence?

The infinitive form is fietsen. For the subject ik (“I”), the verb is conjugated by dropping the -en ending, resulting in fiets. This conjugation follows the typical pattern for regular Dutch verbs in the present tense, so ik fiets means “I cycle.”