Learn Hardcore Dutch: Anna zoekt haar paspoort, want zonder paspoort mag je niet reizen. - Anna is looking for her passport, because without a passport you may not travel.

In Dutch, verbs in the present tense take a -t ending for the third person singular (hij/zij/het). Since Anna is a third person singular subject, you say Anna zoekt (or ze zoekt), not zoek. The full present tense of zoeken is: • ik zoek
• jij/u zoekt
• hij/zij/het zoekt
• wij/jullie/zij zoeken

Why is haar used here instead of zich or zijn?

Haar is the possessive pronoun for a third‑person singular feminine subject (Anna).
• Zich is a reflexive pronoun (Anna vergist zich).
• Zijn is the masculine/neuter possessive pronoun.
Because Anna is female and we’re talking about her possession, we use haar.

What does want mean, and how is it different from omdat?

Want is a coordinating conjunction meaning because. It connects two main clauses without altering word order.
• With want (verb stays in second position):
Anna zoekt haar paspoort, want ze heeft het nodig.
• Omdat is a subordinating conjunction (also because), but it sends the verb to the end:
Anna zoekt haar paspoort, omdat ze het nodig heeft.

Why is there no article before paspoort in zonder paspoort?

After zonder (without), you often drop the article when speaking generally or about an unspecified item. Here it simply means “without a passport.” If you want to specify, you can say zonder haar paspoort or zonder het paspoort to stress a particular document.

Why is the order zonder paspoort mag je niet reizen and not mag je niet reizen zonder paspoort?

Dutch main clauses follow verb‑second (V2) word order. When a phrase like zonder paspoort starts the sentence, the finite verb (mag) must come next, followed by the subject (je) and then the rest.
If you move zonder paspoort to the end, you switch back to the normal Subject‑Verb‑Object order:
Je mag niet reizen zonder paspoort.
Both are correct; the first places extra emphasis on the condition zonder paspoort.

Why is je used instead of jij or u?

Je is the unstressed, informal second‑person pronoun and is the default in everyday statements.
• Jij is also informal but is used when you want to stress “you” specifically.
• U is the formal “you.”
All three translate as “you,” but je is the most neutral and commonly used in spoken Dutch.

Why is there no te before reizen?

After a modal verb like mogen (may), the following main verb appears as a bare infinitive without te. You only use te with an infinitive when there is no modal or auxiliary verb.
• Ik probeer te reizen. (I try to travel.)
• Je mag reizen. (You may travel.)