Questions & Answers about Deze oefening helpt ons effectief te leren.
Why is there te before leren?
In Dutch, when you link a second verb to a catenative verb like helpen, you normally insert te before the infinitive. It’s similar to English “helps to learn.” The pattern is: helpen + object pronoun + te + infinitive.
Why is effectief unchanged (no -lijk) when used adverbially?
Many Dutch adjectives double as adverbs without adding -lijk (the equivalent of English “-ly”). So effectief works both as “effective” (adj.) and “effectively” (adv.). You don’t need to form effectieflijk.
Why do we say de oefening instead of het oefening?
All Dutch nouns ending in -ing are common-gender (formerly feminine), so they take the definite article de, never het. Hence de oefening (“the exercise”).
Why is ons used instead of we or onze?
ons is the object pronoun for “us.” Since helpen takes a direct object, you need ons. By contrast, we is the subject pronoun “we,” and onze is a possessive adjective (“our”).