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Breakdown of Wij lezen ’s avonds samen een kort verhaal in de tuin.
wij
we
lezen
to read
in
in
samen
together
kort
short
het verhaal
the story
de tuin
the garden
een
a, an
’s avonds
in the evening
Questions & Answers about Wij lezen ’s avonds samen een kort verhaal in de tuin.
What does ’s in ’s avonds stand for, and why is there an apostrophe?
’s is a contraction of the archaic genitive article des, literally meaning “of the evening.” The apostrophe marks the missing de.
Why is ’s avonds placed at the beginning of the sentence?
Dutch main clauses often follow the Time–Manner–Place order for adverbials. Putting ’s avonds (time) first is natural, followed by samen (manner) and in de tuin (place).
What is the difference between Wij and We, and can both be used here?
Wij is the full subject pronoun, used for emphasis or in formal/written style. We is the more common spoken form. Both mean “we,” so you can say Wij lezen… or We lezen… depending on tone.
Why is kort not korte before verhaal?
Verhaal is a neuter noun (het-verhaal) preceded by the indefinite article een. In that case, adjectives remain uninflected: een kort verhaal. With a definite article you would say het korte verhaal.
Can samen move to a different position, and what part of speech is it?
Samen is an adverb meaning “together.” It usually follows the finite verb or a time adverbial. You can say We lezen samen…, Samen lezen we…, or ’s avonds lezen we samen…, depending on emphasis.
Why do we use in de tuin and not op de tuin?
In Dutch you’re generally in a garden (an enclosed green space). Op is used for surfaces like op het gras or op het balkon.
How is the verb lezen conjugated for wij, and why is there no -t?
The present-tense ending -t only appears with jij/je, u, and hij/zij/het. For plural subjects (wij, jullie, zij) you use the base form: wij lezen.
Could you use a diminutive like verhaaltje here, and how would the sentence change?
Yes. The diminutive of verhaal is verhaaltje. You’d say Wij lezen ’s avonds samen een kort verhaaltje in de tuin. The structure and word order remain the same.
Do you always capitalize Wij at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. As in English, you capitalize the first word of a sentence. In the middle of a sentence you’d write wij. Pronouns aren’t normally capitalized unless they start the sentence.
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