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Wij trainen drie keer per week in de sportschool.

Wij trainen drie keer per week in de sportschool.
We train three times a week in the gym.

Breakdown of Wij trainen drie keer per week in de sportschool.

wij
we
in
in
de keer
the time
drie
three
per
per
de week
the week
trainen
to train
de sportschool
the gym
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Questions & Answers about Wij trainen drie keer per week in de sportschool.

What does drie keer per week literally mean, and why do we need both keer and per here?

Literally, drie keer per week is “three times per week.”

  • keer means “times” (the countable occurrences).
  • per means “for each.”

Together they express frequency: you do something three times in each week. In Dutch you can’t drop per here—you need both words to convey “times per.”

Why is it in de sportschool and not op de sportschool?

Dutch uses in when you mean “inside” a building or space.

  • in de sportschool = “in the gym” (inside the building).
    By contrast, op de sportschool would sound like “on the gym” (as if it were a surface), which isn’t idiomatic.
Can I say We trainen... instead of Wij trainen..., and is there any difference?

Yes. In spoken and informal Dutch, we trainen is perfectly normal.

  • wij (stressed pronoun) adds emphasis or formality: “as for us, we train….”
  • we is the reduced, everyday form.
How do you conjugate trainen for other subjects?

trainen is a regular verb ending in -en. Conjugation in the present:

  • Ik train
  • Jij/u traint
  • Hij/zij/het traint
  • Wij/jullie/zij trainen

Notice the t on traint for jij, u, hij and the full -en for plurals.

Could I use drie maal per week instead of drie keer per week?

Yes, maal is a more formal or literary synonym of keer.

  • drie keer per week is the everyday choice.
  • drie maal per week sounds slightly more formal or old-fashioned.
Why is the verb trainen in second position after Wij? Is the word order always Subject–Verb–Object in Dutch?

Dutch main clauses use V2 (verb-second) order. You put exactly one element before the verb, then the finite verb comes next. Here:

  1. Wij (subject)
  2. trainen (finite verb)
  3. The rest of the sentence (drie keer per week in de sportschool)

If you start with another element—let’s say Drie keer per week—you’d still keep trainen in second place:
“Drie keer per week trainen wij in de sportschool.”