Wij geven morgen een presentatie op school.

We are giving a presentation at school tomorrow.

Breakdown of Wij geven morgen een presentatie op school.

• wij: we
• morgen: tomorrow
• de school: the school
• een: a, an
• geven: to give
• op: at
• de presentatie: the presentation

Questions & Answers about Wij geven morgen een presentatie op school.

What does geven mean in this sentence?

Literally, geven means to give, but in this context it means to deliver or to present—just like English to give a presentation. So

• Wij geven morgen een presentatie → “We will deliver/present a presentation tomorrow.”

Why is morgen placed before een presentatie, and could I move it?

Dutch has a common main‐clause word order:

1. Subject (Wij)
2. Finite verb (geven)
3. Time (morgen)
4. Object (een presentatie)
5. Place (op school)

So Wij geven morgen een presentatie op school follows S-V-T-O-P.
You can shift morgen to the very front for emphasis:

• Morgen geven wij een presentatie op school (Tomorrow we will give a presentation at school).

Why do we say op school and not in school or naar school?

The choice of preposition changes the meaning:

• op school = at school (location of an event)
• naar school = to school (movement toward)
• in de school = inside the school building (with the definite article)

Because we’re talking about where the presentation takes place, we use op school.

Why is there no article before school in op school?

Dutch often omits the article with institutions or locations in set expressions:

• op school (at school)
• op kantoor (at the office)
• in de school would imply “inside the specific school building.”

Here, op school simply means “at school” in general.

Why do we use een presentatie instead of de presentatie?

• een = a/an (introducing something not previously specified)
• de = the (referring to a specific, known presentation)

So if you’re mentioning the presentation for the first time:

• Wij geven morgen een presentatie… (“…a presentation.”)

If both speaker and listener already know which one:

• Wij geven morgen de presentatie… (“…the presentation we discussed.”)

Could I say We geven morgen een presentatie op school instead of Wij?

Yes.

• wij is the full, emphatic pronoun (“we”).
• we is the weak or reduced form, more common in spoken or informal Dutch.

Both mean the same thing; we just sounds more casual.

Why don’t we use a future tense like gaan + infinitive (“will give”)?

Dutch frequently uses the present tense for near‐future actions, especially if a time adverbial is present.

• Wij geven morgen… can be understood as “We will give tomorrow…”

If you want to be explicit, you can use gaan:

• Wij gaan morgen een presentatie geven op school (“We are going to give a presentation tomorrow at school.”)