Breakdown of Anna plakt een poster op de muur.
Anna
Anna
een
a, an
de muur
the wall
op
on
de poster
the poster
plakken
to stick
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Questions & Answers about Anna plakt een poster op de muur.
Why does the verb plakt end in -t?
In Dutch, verbs in the present tense add -t for third-person singular subjects (hij/zij/het). The infinitive plakken has the stem plak, so with Anna as subject you get plakt.
Why is the simple present used here instead of a progressive form like “is sticking”?
Dutch does not have a separate continuous tense. The simple present covers both habitual and ongoing actions. If you want to stress the ongoing process, you can use a circumlocution:
Anna is een poster op de muur aan het plakken.
Why is een used before poster instead of de?
een is the indefinite article (“a/an”) used with singular common-gender nouns. de is the definite article (“the”). In your sentence the poster is not specified, so you use een poster.
Why is it op de muur and not op muur?
With singular de-woorden (common-gender nouns), a preposition almost always needs an article. Muur is a de-woord, so you say op de muur. Leaving out de would be ungrammatical.
Can you use aan instead of op? What’s the difference?
Yes, you could say Anna hangt een poster aan de muur, but that suggests using nails or hooks. op de muur plakken implies you stick the poster flat onto the surface with tape or glue.
Why use plakken instead of ophangen?
plakken means “to stick” (with adhesive). ophangen means “to hang up” (on a hook, pin, or nail). A glued-on poster is geplakt, not gehangen.
Could you start with the object? For example: Een poster plakt Anna op de muur.
Yes—Dutch is a V2 language, so you can place another element first. The finite verb (plakt) stays in second position. However, it sounds unusual to talk about a “stuck” poster that way—most speakers would say Een poster hangt Anna aan de muur if they wanted that word order.
Could you say Anna plakt de poster op de muur?
Absolutely. Switching een to de makes the poster definite: the poster rather than a poster—use this when both speaker and listener know which poster is meant.