Questions & Answers about Wij klappen voor de zanger.
In Wij klappen voor de zanger, klappen means “to clap” or “to applaud” with your hands. Depending on context, klappen can also mean:
• “to smack, to hit” (iemand klappen geven = to give someone a slap)
• colloquially “to chat, to gossip” (klappen over iemand = to gossip about someone)
Both wij and we mean “we” in Dutch.
• we is the unstressed, more common form in everyday speech.
• wij is the stressed/emphatic form, used when you want to highlight “we” specifically.
klappen is a regular verb. Present‐tense forms are:
• ik klap
• jij/je klapt
• hij/zij/het klapt
• wij/jullie/zij klappen
Here voor means “for” in the sense of “directed toward” or “in honor of.”
klappen voor de zanger = “clap for the singer,” indicating the singer is the beneficiary of the applause.
Dutch main clauses follow the V2 (verb‐second) rule:
- First position: any element (here the subject wij).
- Second position: finite verb (klappen).
- Rest: complements or objects (voor de zanger).
Hence: Wij klappen voor de zanger.
Invert the finite verb and subject:
Klappen wij voor de zanger?
= “Do we clap for the singer?”
klappen is pronounced [ˈklɑ.pə(n)].
• Stress on the first syllable KLAP-pen.
• Double “pp” indicates the /ɑ/ is short.
You have two common options:
1) Add a time adverbial:
Wij klappen nu voor de zanger.
2) Use the Dutch continuous “aan het” construction:
We zijn aan het klappen voor de zanger.