Breakdown of Mijn buurvrouw bakt koekjes en deelt er twee met mij.
en
and
met
with
mijn
my
mij
me
delen
to share
de buurvrouw
the (female) neighbor
twee
two
het koekje
the cookie
bakken
to bake
er
of them
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Questions & Answers about Mijn buurvrouw bakt koekjes en deelt er twee met mij.
What does mijn buurvrouw mean and why is the word buurvrouw used here?
mijn buurvrouw literally means “my (female) neighbor.” Dutch often forms gender-specific compounds: buur (neighbor) + vrouw (woman) gives you a female neighbor. For a male neighbor you’d say mijn buurman.
What tense and person is bakt in mijn buurvrouw bakt koekjes?
bakt is the third-person singular present tense of the verb bakken (“to bake”). Conjugation in the present is:
• ik bak
• jij/bak jij bakt
• hij/zij/het bakt
Why are the cookies called koekjes and not koeken?
Koekje is the diminutive form of koek (cookie or biscuit), created with the suffix -je to indicate something small or endearing. Its plural is koekjes. If you want a more general or larger “batch of cookies,” you might use koeken.
What is the function of er in deelt er twee met mij?
Here er acts as a placeholder pronoun referring back to koekjes. So deelt er twee met mij means “shares two of them with me.” Without er, you’d lose the connection to the cookies she just baked.
Why does the verb delen take met mij? Could you use aan mij instead?
In Dutch delen (“to share”) always pairs with met when indicating the person you share with: delen iets met iemand. Delen iets aan iemand is not used in this sense. So you need met mij (with me).
Why is it mij and not me in met mij?
Both met mij and met me are grammatically correct. Met mij is a bit more formal or emphatic, while met me is more conversational. You’ll hear both in everyday Dutch.
Is the word order deelt er twee met mij fixed? Why not deelt twee er met mij?
Yes. In a main clause after the finite verb (here deelt), pronouns like er come directly after the verb, then numerals (twee), then other complements (met mij). Swapping er and twee would break standard Dutch word order.
Can I omit er and simply say deelt twee koekjes met mij?
You cannot drop er if you only say deelt twee met mij—that would leave the object unspecified. However, you can replace er twee with the full noun: deelt twee koekjes met mij (“shares two cookies with me”), which is perfectly idiomatic.
Why doesn’t the sentence have an article before koekjes?
Dutch often omits an article before indefinite plural nouns. Bakt koekjes means “bakes cookies” in general. If you meant specific cookies, you’d use an article: bakt de koekjes (“bakes the cookies”).
How do you pronounce koekjes?
Koekjes is pronounced roughly as KOOK-yehs.
• oe sounds like the “oo” in “book”
• kj is like the “ky” in “cute,” often simplified to a “k” + “y” sound
• the -es ending is a quick “ehs”