Learn Hardcore Dutch: Ik vind het recyclen belangrijk voor onze toekomst. - I find recycling important for our future.

In Dutch you can turn an infinitive into a noun by adding the neuter article het—a process called nominalization. So het recyclen literally means the recycling, making it function as a noun phrase (the act or concept of recycling).

Could I say Ik vind recyclen belangrijk voor onze toekomst without het?

No. Without het, recyclen is treated as a bare verb, not a noun. Dutch requires het to signal that you’re talking about the activity as a concept rather than performing the action right now.

What about using om te recyclen, like Ik vind het belangrijk om te recyclen?

That’s a perfectly common alternative. Here you still have the dummy pronoun het, but you introduce the infinitive clause with om te. Both sentences mean essentially the same thing, though om te recyclen makes the purpose clause more explicit.

Why does belangrijk come after het recyclen?

Dutch main clauses follow Subject–Verb–Object–Complement order. In this sentence, belangrijk is a complement (an adjective describing the object het recyclen), so it naturally follows that object.

Why is voor onze toekomst placed at the end?

voor onze toekomst is a prepositional phrase expressing beneficiary or purpose (for our future). In Dutch it’s typical to put such phrases after the core clause elements (subject, verb, object, complement).

Why is it onze and not ons?

Dutch uses onze for all de-words (common gender) and ons for het-words (neuter). Since toekomst is a de-word, you say onze toekomst.

Why is toekomst in the singular here?

toekomst usually refers to the abstract concept of the future, which is uncountable, so it stays singular. You’d only use the plural toekomsten when discussing multiple hypothetical futures.

Is recyclen an English loanword? Is there a native Dutch alternative?

Yes, recyclen is borrowed from English. A pure Dutch alternative is hergebruiken (to reuse) or the noun hergebruik (reuse). However, recyclen is widely understood and commonly used in everyday speech.

Why is vinden translated here as “to consider” rather than “to find”?

In Dutch, vinden can mean to think or to hold an opinion—similar to English “to find” in expressions like “I find this interesting.” So Ik vind X belangrijk means I consider X important (not physically finding something).