Breakdown of In onze wijk ruik ik soms rook uit een oude schoorsteen.
ik
I
in
in
oud
old
onze
our
een
a, an
soms
sometimes
uit
from
ruiken
to smell
de wijk
the neighbourhood
de rook
the smoke
de schoorsteen
the chimney
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Questions & Answers about In onze wijk ruik ik soms rook uit een oude schoorsteen.
In In onze wijk ruik ik soms rook…, why does ruik come before ik?
Dutch follows the “verb-second” (V2) rule. When a sentence starts with any element other than the subject (here In onze wijk), the finite verb (ruik) must be in the second position, pushing the subject (ik) to third.
Why is soms placed after ik but before rook?
Adverbs of frequency like soms typically occupy the “mid-field” in Dutch: after the finite verb and subject but before the direct object.
Why isn’t there an article (like de or het) before rook?
Rook is an uncountable (mass) noun here, meaning “some smoke.” Uncountable nouns often appear without an article when you’re talking about an unspecified amount.
Why do we say uit een oude schoorsteen and not van?
Uit means “out of” or “from inside,” so it emphasizes the smoke coming out of the chimney. Van would mean “of” or “from” in a more abstract sense (“the smoke of the chimney”), but uit is the correct preposition for origin in a physical sense.
Why is it een oude schoorsteen and not een oud schoorsteen?
When you have an indefinite article (een) in front of a common-gender noun, the adjective takes an -e ending: een oude schoorsteen.
Why onze wijk and not ons wijk?
Dutch possessives ons and onze agree with the gender/number of the noun. Wijk is a “de-word” (common gender), so you use onze. (Ons is for het-words or plurals you treat as neutral.)
How do you conjugate ruiken in the present tense?
Standard present-tense conjugation for ruiken (to smell) is:
- ik ruik
- jij/je/u ruikt
- hij/zij/het ruikt
- wij/jullie/zij ruiken
Could you move In onze wijk to the end of the sentence? How would that affect word order?
Yes. If you say Ik ruik soms rook uit een oude schoorsteen in onze wijk, the sentence is still correct. Here the subject (ik) comes first, then the verb (ruik), and the adverbial phrases follow in a more neutral order.