Learn Hardcore Dutch: Anna rijdt met de auto naar school.

rijdt is the present tense (onvoltooid tegenwoordige tijd), 3rd person singular of the verb rijden. It corresponds to he/she/it drives in English.

Why is it met de auto and not just auto?

In Dutch you use the preposition met to indicate the means of transportation. Always pair met with the definite article for vehicles: met de auto, met de fiets, met de bus, etc.

Why does auto take de instead of het?

In Dutch, nouns are either de-words or het-words. Auto is a common gender noun (de-woord), so it always takes de, not het.

Why is there no article before school (i.e., not naar de school)?

When using naar to express purpose or destination with institutions (school, bed, werk, huis), Dutch typically omits the article: naar school, naar huis, naar bed. If you mean a specific building, you could say naar de school.

Why is met de auto placed before naar school?

Dutch word order for adverbials generally follows the pattern Time–Manner–Place. Here we have no time expression, so manner (met de auto) comes before place (naar school).

Could you say Anna rijdt naar school met de auto?

Grammatically yes, but it’s less idiomatic. Placing the manner phrase after the place phrase is possible for emphasis, but the default order is Anna rijdt met de auto naar school.

Can you use rijden with other vehicles or only cars?

You can use rijden for most vehicles: met de fiets rijden, met de bus rijden, even te paard rijden (to ride a horse). For everyday cycling, Dutch speakers often prefer fietsen, but met de fiets rijden is still correct.

What’s the difference between rijden and besturen?

rijden means “to drive/ride” in the sense of traveling in or on a vehicle. besturen is more technical: “to operate” or “to steer” a vehicle (e.g., een auto besturen focuses on the control aspect).