Breakdown of Vorig jaar hebben wij een nieuwe auto gekocht.
hebben
to have
wij
we
nieuw
new
kopen
to buy
de auto
the car
het jaar
the year
vorig
last
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Questions & Answers about Vorig jaar hebben wij een nieuwe auto gekocht.
Why does the sentence start with Vorig jaar, and how does that affect Dutch word order?
Dutch is a V2-language, meaning the finite (conjugated) verb must occupy the second slot in a main clause. By placing the time adverbial Vorig jaar (last year) in the first slot, you force hebben into slot two and the subject wij into slot three. Everything else (object, participle, etc.) follows.
Why is the past participle gekocht all the way at the end of the sentence?
In Dutch perfect sentences, the past participle goes to the clause-final position. You form the perfect by combining the auxiliary (hebben or zijn) in second position with the past participle at the very end.
Why is hebben used here as the auxiliary verb instead of zijn?
Most transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object) use hebben in the perfect. Kopen (to buy) is transitive (you buy something), so you say hebben gekocht. Only certain intransitive verbs of motion or change of state typically use zijn (e.g. lopen, veranderen).
Why does nieuw take an -e ending in nieuwe auto?
When an adjective precedes a noun with an article, Dutch applies the weak adjective inflection. For common-gender nouns with de or een, you add -e: een nieuwe auto. If it followed the noun (e.g. auto nieuw), there’s no inflection.
Can you drop wij and use we instead? For example, Vorig jaar hebben we een nieuwe auto gekocht?
Yes. In spoken and informal Dutch, we is far more common than wij. Omitting the subject entirely is also possible when context is clear: Vorig jaar hebben we een nieuwe auto gekocht is perfectly natural.
Could you also say We hebben vorig jaar een nieuwe auto gekocht? Does the meaning or emphasis change?
Absolutely. Starting with we (the subject) and then placing Vorig jaar later is just another word‐order variant. The meaning stays the same, but leading with the time phrase (Vorig jaar…) can put extra emphasis on when something happened.