Breakdown of Tom opent glimlachend de deur voor zijn moeder.
Tom
Tom
de deur
the door
voor
for
zijn
his
openen
to open
de moeder
the mother
glimlachend
smiling
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Dutch grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Tom opent glimlachend de deur voor zijn moeder.
What is glimlachend and what role does it play in this sentence?
glimlachend is the present participle of the verb glimlachen (“to smile”). Here it functions adverbially, describing how Tom opens the door—he does it while smiling.
How do you form the present participle in Dutch like glimlachend?
- Take the verb stem (for glimlachen, the stem is glimlach-).
- Add -end to that stem: glimlach
- end = glimlachend.
Many verbs follow this: werken → werkend, leren → lerend, gaan → gaand.
- end = glimlachend.
Why is the verb opent and not open or opens?
Dutch infinitives typically end in -en (here openen). For a third person singular subject (hij/zij/het), you add -t to the stem: open- → opent. In English you’d add -s (opens); in Dutch it’s -t.
Why do we say de deur and not het deur?
Dutch has two articles: de for common-gender nouns and het for neuter nouns. Deur is a common-gender noun, so it takes de.
Why is the beneficiary phrase voor zijn moeder and not simply aan zijn moeder?
To express “for someone” in the sense of “on behalf of” or “to benefit,” Dutch uses voor. Aan is used for giving or directing something toward someone (“give a book to her”: boek aan haar geven), but voor covers the idea of “doing something for someone’s sake.”
Why zijn moeder and not haar moeder?
Possessive pronouns agree with the owner, not the thing owned. Tom is male, so “his mother” is zijn moeder. Haar would refer to a female possessor.
Can I replace glimlachend with met een glimlach?
Yes. You can say:
Tom opent de deur met een glimlach voor zijn moeder.
This noun-phrase alternative is more explicit (“with a smile”) but means essentially the same.
Could I move glimlachend to a different position in the sentence?
Yes, though style and emphasis change slightly. Common placements:
- Directly after the verb: Tom opent glimlachend de deur…
- At the very start (more literary): Glimlachend, opent Tom de deur…
In everyday speech, you’ll most often hear it between opent and de deur.