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Questions & Answers about Anna fietst blij naar school.
What does the verb fietst mean, and why is it conjugated with a –t in this sentence?
Fietst is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb fietsen, which means "to ride a bicycle." The –t is added because the subject, Anna, is singular and third-person, following the standard Dutch verb conjugation rules.
How does the word blij function in this sentence? Is it considered an adjective or an adverb in Dutch?
In this sentence, blij translates to "happy," but it describes the manner in which Anna is biking — essentially the equivalent of "happily" in English. Dutch does not have a separate adverb form for adjectives in many contexts, so blij is used in its base adjective form to function adverbially.
What does the phrase naar school indicate, and why is there no article before school?
Naar school is a prepositional phrase where naar means "to" and school means "school." In Dutch, when referring to institutions like school in a general sense, it is common to omit the article. The phrase correctly indicates the destination without needing a definite article, much like saying "to school" in English.
Is the word order in Anna fietst blij naar school typical for Dutch, and how does it compare to the English sentence "Anna happily rides to school"?
Yes, the word order is typical for Dutch. The sentence follows the subject–verb–manner–destination structure: Anna (subject) comes first, followed by fietst (verb), blij (describing the manner), and finally naar school (destination). While English might insert an adverb like "happily" in a slightly different position, both languages convey the same overall meaning using their natural syntactic orders.
Can the sentence be rearranged for emphasis, particularly the placement of blij, and what would that look like?
Dutch allows some flexibility in word order for emphasis. For example, you might say Blij fietst Anna naar school to place extra emphasis on the state of being happy. However, in everyday use, Anna fietst blij naar school is the standard and most straightforward construction.