Breakdown of Wij besluiten ter plekke om een hotelkamer in de stad te reserveren.
wij
we
in
in
om
for
een
a, an
besluiten
to decide
de stad
the city
ter plekke
on the spot
de hotelkamer
the hotel room
reserveren
to reserve
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Questions & Answers about Wij besluiten ter plekke om een hotelkamer in de stad te reserveren.
What does besluiten mean, and why do we use besluiten om … te here?
besluiten means to decide. In Dutch, when you express a decision followed by an action, you use besluiten + om + infinitive with te. So besluiten om een hotelkamer … te reserveren = decide to reserve a hotel room.
What does ter plekke mean, and why is it placed after besluiten?
ter plekke is an adverbial phrase meaning on the spot or right there. It modifies besluiten, indicating the decision is made immediately. In Dutch you can place such adverbials between the finite verb and the infinitive clause.
Why is the infinitive clause introduced by om, and why do we have te reserveren instead of just reserveren?
Dutch uses om + … + te to introduce purpose/complement infinitive clauses after certain verbs (e.g. besluiten, bidden, proberen). om introduces the clause and te goes directly before the main verb (reserveren).
Why are the words ordered as een hotelkamer in de stad? Could it be in de stad een hotelkamer?
The neutral order is Subject–Verb–Object–Adverbial of place: een hotelkamer (object) comes before in de stad (place). You can front in de stad for emphasis:
Wij besluiten ter plekke in de stad een hotelkamer te reserveren.
But the original order is the most neutral.
Do we have to include Wij at the beginning? Could we say Besluiten ter plekke om …?
In informal speech you can drop the pronoun if context is clear:
Besluiten ter plekke om een hotelkamer te reserveren.
In standard written Dutch, including Wij is more formal and leaves no ambiguity.
What is hotelkamer, and how do Dutch compound nouns work?
hotelkamer is a compound of hotel + kamer (“room”). Dutch often combines nouns into a single word, where the first noun modifies the second.
Is besluiten a separable verb? Why doesn't om go at the end?
No, besluiten is not separable. You cannot split it into be–sluiten in a sentence. The om ... te portion is a marker for the infinitive clause, not part of the verb itself.
Is there a difference between reserveren and boeken when talking about booking a hotel room?
Both verbs can mean to book. reserveren is slightly more formal and common for hotels, restaurants, etc. boeken is also widely used, especially in casual conversation or when referring to booking travel as a whole.