Breakdown of Een postbode belt altijd aan bij elk huis.
het huis
the house
elke
every
een
a, an
bij
at
altijd
always
de postbode
the mailman
aanbellen
to ring the doorbell
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Questions & Answers about Een postbode belt altijd aan bij elk huis.
What does postbode mean and is there another common term for ‘mailman’ in Dutch?
postbode means mailman or postman. A widely used alternative is postbezorger, which is shorter and gender-neutral.
Why does the sentence use een instead of de postbode?
een is the indefinite article (a postman), used when you speak about any postman in general. de would be the definite article (the postman) referring to a specific, already‐known postman.
What is aanbellen, and why is aan at the end in belt aan?
The verb aanbellen means ‘to ring (a doorbell)’. It’s a separable verb: the prefix aan splits off in main clauses. The finite verb (belt, third-person singular of bellen) stays in second position, and aan moves to the very end: belt … aan.
Why is altijd placed between belt and aan?
altijd (‘always’) is an adverb of frequency. In Dutch main clauses, adverbs of frequency normally come immediately after the conjugated verb. With a separable verb, that lands them between the verb and its prefix: belt altijd aan.
Why do we add bij before elk huis, instead of saying belt elk huis aan directly?
You ring someone’s doorbell at a location, so Dutch uses aanbellen bij (‘to ring at’). Saying belt elk huis aan is grammatically possible but sounds like you’re ringing the house itself. aanbellen bij elk huis makes it clear you ring at each house’s door.
What’s the difference between elk huis and alle huizen, and could I say bij alle huizen instead?
elk huis means ‘each house’ (one by one). alle huizen means ‘all the houses’ (as a group). You can say bij alle huizen, but that emphasizes ‘at all the houses’ collectively, not the idea of doing it ‘house by house’ that elk huis conveys.
Why is it elk huis and not elke huis?
In Dutch, you use elk before singular neuter nouns (het-words), and elke before singular common-gender nouns (de-words). huis is a neuter noun, so it takes elk.
How can I replace bij elk huis with a pronoun, and where does aan go then?
You use er to replace bij elk huis:
Een postbode belt er altijd aan.
Here er stands for ‘at each house’, and the separable prefix aan still appears at the very end.