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Questions & Answers about Alle mensen werken samen.
What does alle mean, and why is it placed before mensen?
Alle translates to all in English. In Dutch, adjectives and quantifiers like alle are typically placed before the noun they modify. Thus, alle mensen literally means all people, with alle directly describing mensen.
How does the sentence structure of Alle mensen werken samen compare to the English sentence structure?
The sentence structure is very similar to English. In both languages, the subject comes first (alle mensen = all people), followed by the verb (werken = work), and finally the adverb (samen = together). This mirrors the English sentence all people work together.
Why is the verb werken not conjugated differently even though mensen is plural?
In Dutch, many regular verbs, including werken, maintain the same form in the present tense when used with a plural subject. Similar to English (where we say they work), werken is correctly used with alle mensen without any additional conjugation.
Can werken samen also appear as a single word (samenwerken), and if so, why?
Yes, samenwerken is the compound form of the separable verb meaning to work together. In Dutch, separable verbs like this are often split in main clauses—the finite verb (werken) appears in the second position, while the separable prefix (samen) moves to the end of the sentence. Both forms are grammatically correct depending on the sentence structure.
What is the grammatical role of samen in this sentence?
Samen acts as an adverb meaning together, modifying the verb werken to describe how the action is performed. In Dutch, adverbs that are part of a separable verb (or simply adverbs describing the verb) frequently appear at the end of the sentence, which is why samen is positioned after werken.