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Questions & Answers about Wij fietsen over de brug.
What does Wij mean in this sentence?
Wij is the first-person plural subject pronoun, meaning we in English. It indicates that more than one person (including the speaker) is doing the action.
What’s the difference between wij and we in Dutch?
we is the unstressed, reduced form of wij and is more common in everyday speech. wij is the full (stressed) form, used for emphasis or in more formal contexts.
Why does fietsen end in -en here instead of -t?
In Dutch present tense, plural subjects (wij, jullie, zij) use the verb’s infinitive form, which ends in -en. Only singular subjects (jij, hij, zij, u) take a -t ending (e.g., jij fietst).
How do you conjugate fietsen for all persons in the present tense?
Here’s the full conjugation of fietsen (to cycle) in the present tense:
- ik fiets (I cycle)
- jij/u fietst (you cycle – informal/formal singular)
- hij/zij fietst (he/she cycles)
- wij fietsen (we cycle)
- jullie fietsen (you cycle – plural)
- zij fietsen (they cycle)
What does over mean in over de brug, and why not op de brug?
In this sentence, over means across or over (moving from one side to the other). If you say op de brug (“on the bridge”), you’re only stating the location (on top of the bridge) without implying crossing it.
Why is the article de used before brug, and what gender is brug?
Dutch has two grammatical genders: common (de) and neuter (het). brug (bridge) is common-gender, so it takes the article de in the singular. Its plural is de bruggen.
How do you pronounce the ij in fietsen and the final g in brug?
- The ij in fietsen sounds roughly like the ay in day, but a bit shorter and more fronted.
- The final g in brug is a guttural sound made at the back of the throat (similar to a soft ch).
How would you turn “Wij fietsen over de brug” into a yes/no question?
Invert the subject and verb:
Fietsen wij over de brug?
In everyday speech you’d usually use the reduced pronoun:
Fietsen we over de brug?
How do you make the sentence negative in Dutch?
Insert niet after the verb phrase or at the end:
Wij fietsen niet over de brug.
This means “We are not cycling across the bridge.”
How do you express this action in the past tense?
Replace fietsen with its simple past form fietsten:
Wij fietsten over de brug.
That translates as “We cycled” or “We were cycling across the bridge.”