Learn Hardcore Dutch: Ik kocht een nieuwe hoofdlamp en sindsdien zijn nachtelijke wandelingen aangenaam. - I bought a new headlamp and since then night walks have been pleasant.

In Dutch, the simple past (onvoltooid verleden tijd) is often used—especially in written or narrative contexts—to describe a single, completed action at a specific moment. While you could say Ik heb een nieuwe hoofdlamp gekocht, using Ik kocht emphasizes the act of buying itself and reads more like a story. In spoken Dutch people frequently prefer the perfect tense, but both forms are grammatically correct.

What does hoofdlamp mean, and why is it written as one word?

Hoofdlamp is a compound noun made from hoofd (head) + lamp (lamp), so it literally means headlamp or head torch. In Dutch you normally glue two (or more) nouns together without spaces to form a single concept—hence hoofd + lamp → hoofdlamp.

Why is it een nieuwe hoofdlamp and not een nieuw hoofdlamp?

Dutch adjectives change form in attributive position (directly before a noun) according to gender and definiteness. Here lamp is a common-gender noun with an indefinite article (een), so the adjective nieuw takes an -e ending:
• een nieuwe hoofdlamp
The only time you keep the bare form (nieuw) is before a singular neuter noun with een (e.g., een nieuw huis).

Why is sindsdien used here, and how does it differ from sinds?

Both words relate to “since,” but:

sinds can function as a preposition/conjunction introducing a time point (e.g., sinds vorig jaar “since last year”).
sindsdien is an adverb meaning “since then,” referring back to a moment already mentioned.
In our sentence we first say Ik kocht… and then link with en sindsdien (“and since then…”).

Why is the verb zijn placed before the subject nachtelijke wandelingen?

Dutch follows the V2 (verb-second) rule: when a sentence starts with an adverbial element (sindsdien), the finite verb must occupy the second position. This causes inversion of subject and verb:
1) sindsdien (adverbial)
2) zijn (finite verb)
3) nachtelijke wandelingen (subject)

Why doesn’t the adjective aangenaam take an -e ending here?

Aangenaam is used predicatively after the verb zijn (“to be”): wandelingen zijn aangenaam. Predicative adjectives in Dutch remain uninflected regardless of number or gender. If you used it attributively before a noun, it would take -e (e.g., een aangename wandeling).

Why is there no article before nachtelijke wandelingen?

Here we make a general statement about walking at night. In Dutch, generic plural nouns are typically used without any article:
• Nachtelijke wandelingen zijn aangenaam.
If you wanted to talk about specific walks, you could add an article or possessive: de nachtelijke wandelingen or mijn nachtelijke wandelingen.