Breakdown of De muzikant speelt gitaar in het park.
in
in
het park
the park
spelen
to play
de gitaar
the guitar
de muzikant
the musician
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Questions & Answers about De muzikant speelt gitaar in het park.
Why is there no article before gitaar?
When talking about playing an instrument in general, Dutch drops the article. So you say speelt gitaar (plays guitar) just like in English you don’t say plays the guitar unless you mean a specific instrument.
Why does muzikant take de and park take het?
Dutch nouns have two genders: common and neuter. Most occupations like muzikant are common gender and use de. Neuter nouns like park use het.
Why is the verb speelt spelled with a -t at the end?
In Dutch present tense, third-person singular (hij/zij/het) adds -t to the verb stem. The stem of spelen is speel, so hij speelt.
Why is the word order De muzikant speelt gitaar in het park? Could it be different?
Dutch is a V2 language: the finite verb must be in second position. Here the subject De muzikant is first, speelt second, then objects and adverbials. You can front the adverbial (“In het park speelt de muzikant gitaar”) but the verb stays second.
Can we say De muzikant speelt de gitaar in het park instead?
Yes, but that implies a specific guitar: “the guitar.” Without de, it’s generic – he plays guitar as an activity. With de, you talk about one known guitar.
Why do we use in het park and not naar het park?
In indicates location where the playing happens (inside the park). Naar would express movement toward a place (“to the park”), which isn’t the meaning here.
What part of speech is in het park?
It’s a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverbial of place, telling us where the action happens.
Could you omit het in in het park?
No. Dutch generally requires the definite article with singular, specific locations. Just in park doesn’t work.
Is there any informal way to say this?
Informally you might hear contractions in speech: ’n muzikant speelt gitaar in ’t park, but in writing you’d stick to de and het.