Breakdown of Hardlopen in het park is rustgevend.
zijn
to be
in
in
het park
the park
rustgevend
relaxing
het hardlopen
the running
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Questions & Answers about Hardlopen in het park is rustgevend.
What part of speech is hardlopen in this sentence?
Even though hardlopen looks like a verb (the infinitive “to run”), it’s functioning here as a noun. Dutch frequently uses the infinitive as a noun when talking about an activity in general (e.g. zwemmen = swimming, fietsen = cycling).
Why is there no article before hardlopen in het park?
When you describe an activity in a general sense, Dutch often omits the article. You could say Het hardlopen in het park is rustgevend, but dropping het is more colloquial and common.
How do I know whether to use de or het for park?
Dutch nouns are either de-words or het-words, and unfortunately there’s no foolproof rule—many must be memorized. You can consult a dictionary to see that park is a het-word, so you say het park.
Why doesn’t rustgevend take an -e ending here (like rustgevende)?
Adjectives used predicatively (after a linking verb such as is) remain uninflected. Just as you say Het is mooi (not Het is mooie), you say is rustgevend, not is rustgevende.
How is the adjective rustgevend formed?
It comes from the noun rust (rest, peace) + the suffix -gevend (giving). So rustgevend literally means “giving rest”, i.e. restful or calming.
Could I replace rustgevend with ontspannend, and would the meaning change?
Yes, you can say Hardlopen in het park is ontspannend. Both ontspannend (relaxing) and rustgevend (calming) are very close. Ontspannend is more general relaxation, while rustgevend emphasizes inner calm.
If I want to emphasize the action, can I change the word order?
You could force a poetic inversion: Rustgevend is hardlopen in het park, but this sounds marked or literary. The neutral word order is Subject (Hardlopen in het park) + Verb (is) + Predicate.
Do I need a comma before is because the subject is long?
No. In Dutch, you generally never place a comma between the subject and its verb, regardless of length.