Breakdown of De film in de collegezaal had Engelse ondertitels voor internationale studenten.
hebben
to have
in
in
voor
for
de film
the film
de student
the student
de collegezaal
the lecture hall
Engels
English
de ondertitel
the subtitle
internationaal
international
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Questions & Answers about De film in de collegezaal had Engelse ondertitels voor internationale studenten.
Why is the past-tense verb had used here instead of heeft?
Dutch uses had as the simple past tense of hebben. Since the sentence describes a past situation—what the film in the lecture hall had—you use had. If you were talking about right now, you’d say heeft (e.g. De film in de collegezaal heeft Engelse ondertitels).
Why is it in de collegezaal and not op de collegezaal or aan de collegezaal?
Use in for being inside an enclosed space. A collegezaal (lecture hall) is an enclosed room, so you say in de collegezaal.
- Op is for surfaces (e.g. op de vloer).
- Aan is for things like “attached to” or “at the side of” (e.g. aan de muur).
What does collegezaal mean?
It literally means lecture hall or lecture room, from college (lecture/course) + zaal (hall/room).
Why is there no article before Engelse ondertitels?
Engelse ondertitels is an indefinite plural noun phrase (“English subtitles” in general), so you drop the article. If you refer to specific ones, you’d say de Engelse ondertitels (“the English subtitles”).
Why does Engelse have an -e ending?
In Dutch, adjectives preceding nouns normally take an -e. Since ondertitels is plural (and regardless of article), Engels becomes Engelse.
Why is it voor internationale studenten instead of aan internationale studenten?
Voor expresses “for” as in “intended for” or “beneficial to.” So voor internationale studenten means “for the benefit of international students.” Aan would more mean “to” when handing something over.
Why does internationale also get an -e?
Same adjective rule: internationaal becomes internationale when it stands before a plural noun (studenten) or a definite noun.
Why is the locative phrase in de collegezaal placed before the verb?
Dutch main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb (had) must be the second element. The subject (De film) is first, then the adverbial (in de collegezaal), then the verb. You could also front the location:
In de collegezaal had de film Engelse ondertitels…
Could I also say ondertitels in het Engels instead of Engelse ondertitels?
Yes.
De film in de collegezaal had ondertitels in het Engels voor internationale studenten.
Both forms are correct. Engelse ondertitels is more concise, while ondertitels in het Engels uses a prepositional phrase to express the same idea.