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Questions & Answers about Wij gooien de bal naar hem.
What does gooien mean?
Gooien is the infinitive form of the verb “to throw” in English. It’s a regular Dutch verb, so you form the past tense and participle in a predictable way (ik gooide, gegooid).
Why is wij used here? Can I say we instead?
Both wij and we mean “we.”
- Wij is the full, emphatic form—used for stress or in formal contexts.
- We is the unstressed, everyday form you’ll hear most often in speech.
What role does de bal play in the sentence?
De bal is the direct object (what is being thrown).
- Bal is a common-gender noun, so it takes the article de.
- It answers the question what: “We throw what? The ball.”
Why do we use naar before hem?
We use naar to indicate direction or target (“to”). After a verb like gooien, when you specify to whom something is thrown, you introduce the person with naar.
Why is the pronoun hem used instead of hij?
Hem is the object form of the third-person singular masculine pronoun (“him”). After prepositions like naar, you must use the object form (hem), not the subject form (hij).
Could I say Wij gooien hem de bal without naar?
Yes. Wij gooien hem de bal is also correct and means “We throw him the ball.” In that structure:
- Hem is the indirect object (no preposition).
- De bal remains the direct object.
Note: Using naar hem- direct object is more common with gooien, but both patterns exist.
Why is the word order Wij gooien de bal naar hem and not Wij gooien naar hem de bal?
Dutch prefers placing the direct object (here de bal) immediately after the verb, followed by any prepositional phrases (here naar hem). So the sequence is: Subject – Verb – Direct Object – Prepositional Phrase.
How would you turn this into a question?
Invert the verb and subject:
Gooien wij de bal naar hem?
This literally asks, “Are we throwing the ball to him?” You can also add a tag:
Wij gooien de bal naar hem, toch? (We’re throwing the ball to him, right?)