Breakdown of Tom werkt in het winkelcentrum.
Tom
Tom
in
in
werken
to work
het winkelcentrum
the shopping mall
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Questions & Answers about Tom werkt in het winkelcentrum.
What does werkt mean in this sentence, and how is it related to the infinitive werken?
werkt is the third-person singular present tense of werken (to work). Dutch present-tense conjugation for werken looks like this:
• ik werk (I work)
• jij werkt (you work)
• hij/zij/het werkt (he/she/it works)
• wij/jullie/zij werken (we/you/they work)
Why does werken become werkt here?
Because in Dutch, when the subject is hij, zij, or het, you add -t to the verb stem for the present tense. The stem of werken is werk-, so it becomes werkt.
What does het winkelcentrum mean, and why is the article het used instead of de?
Winkelcentrum is a compound of winkel (shop) + centrum (center), so it means shopping center or mall. It is a neuter noun in Dutch, and neuter nouns take the definite article het (whereas masculine/feminine nouns take de).
Why is the preposition in used, and could I use a different preposition?
In indicates that Tom works inside the shopping center. If you wanted to express that he works at or near the mall (but not inside), you’d use bij:
• Tom werkt bij het winkelcentrum (Tom works at/near the shopping center)
Is there a direct object in this sentence?
No. Werken here is intransitive (it doesn’t take a direct object). In het winkelcentrum is an adverbial prepositional phrase showing where Tom works.
How does the word‐order rule in Dutch explain the placement of werkt?
Dutch main clauses follow the verb‐second (V2) rule: the finite verb must be the second element. Here, Tom is the first element (subject), so werkt comes immediately after.
Can the article het be replaced by een, and what difference does that make?
Yes. Tom werkt in een winkelcentrum means “Tom works in a shopping center” (an unspecified one). Using een makes it indefinite; using het makes it definite (a specific mall known to both speaker and listener).
How is winkelcentrum pronounced?
Phonetically: /ˈʋɪŋ.kəl.sɛn.ˌtrʏm/.
A rough English guide: WIN-kuhl-SENT-rum, with a short u in the last syllable and a lightly tapped r.
What is the plural of het winkelcentrum?
The standard plural is de winkelcentra (Latin‐style plural), though you’ll also hear de winkelcentrums in casual speech.