Breakdown of Na de wedstrijd blijft het team op het veld om foto’s te maken.
om
for
na
after
blijven
to stay
maken
to make
op
on
de wedstrijd
the match
de foto
the photo
het team
the team
het veld
the field
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Questions & Answers about Na de wedstrijd blijft het team op het veld om foto’s te maken.
Why do we say Na de wedstrijd instead of just Na wedstrijd?
In Dutch, common nouns nearly always need an article or determiner. wedstrijd is a de-word (common gender), so it takes the definite article de. Saying just Na wedstrijd would be ungrammatical. If you wanted to speak of any match rather than a specific one, you could use the indefinite article: Na een wedstrijd.
Why is the verb blijft placed before the subject het team in Na de wedstrijd blijft het team …?
Dutch requires inversion when a sentence begins with an adverbial or prepositional phrase (here Na de wedstrijd). The finite verb (blijft) must come immediately after that phrase, then the subject (het team). So the order is: Adverbial – Verb – Subject – …
Why is the verb blijft singular when referring to het team?
In Dutch, collective nouns like team are grammatically singular. Even though a team consists of multiple people, the noun itself takes a singular verb form (blijft). English sometimes treats “team” as plural (“the team are”), but Dutch does not.
Why do we use op het veld? Why op and why het?
veld is a neuter noun in Dutch, so it takes the article het. The preposition op means “on” and is used to indicate location on a surface or area. Thus op het veld literally means “on the field.”
What is the construction om foto’s te maken, and what does it express?
This is a purpose clause formed with om + te + infinitive. It expresses “in order to take photos.” Structure:
• om (in order to)
• foto’s (photos)
• te (introduces the infinitive)
• maken (to make/take)
Why is there no comma before om foto’s te maken?
In Dutch you generally do not use a comma before an om … te clause, because it functions as a single complement expressing purpose. Commas are added only when needed for clarity or to separate longer clauses, but not before a simple purpose infinitive.
Why is foto’s spelled with an apostrophe?
When a Dutch noun ends in a vowel and you form the plural with -s, you insert an apostrophe to keep the pronunciation clear. So foto + ’s = foto’s. Without the apostrophe (fotos), the pronunciation or parsing might be confusing.