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Questions & Answers about Tom praat vriendelijk met Anna.
What does the verb praat mean, and how is it conjugated in this sentence?
Praat is the third person singular form of the Dutch verb praten, which means "to speak" or "to talk." Since Tom is the subject, the verb is correctly conjugated to agree with him.
How is the word vriendelijk used in this sentence, and why doesn’t it change its form?
Even though vriendelijk is an adjective meaning "friendly," it is used here to describe the manner in which Tom speaks (i.e., "in a friendly manner"). In Dutch, adjectives used adverbially do not change their form—unlike in English, where we add -ly to form adverbs.
What role does the prepositional phrase met Anna play in the sentence?
The phrase met Anna translates to "with Anna" in English. It tells us who Tom is speaking with by functioning as a prepositional phrase. The preposition met consistently means "with" in Dutch regardless of its context.
How does the word order in Tom praat vriendelijk met Anna compare to typical English sentence structure?
The word order is very similar between the two languages. Both start with the subject (Tom), followed by the verb (praat/speaks), and then the modifying elements such as the manner in which the action is performed (vriendelijk/kindly) and the prepositional phrase (met Anna/with Anna). This straightforward subject–verb–modifier order is common in both Dutch and English.
Are there other adjectives in Dutch that remain unchanged when used adverbially, similar to vriendelijk?
Yes. In Dutch, it is common for adjectives to function as adverbs without changing form. For example, in the sentence "Hij werkt hard" ("He works hard"), the adjective hard describes how he works. This pattern means you typically don’t need to look for a special adverbial form as you might in English.