Breakdown of De steward helpt de passagiers met instappen.
met
with
helpen
to help
instappen
to board
de passagier
the passenger
de steward
the steward
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Questions & Answers about De steward helpt de passagiers met instappen.
Why is the verb helpt spelled with a t at the end?
In Dutch the present-tense form for hij/zij/het (3rd person singular) gets a -t. The infinitive is helpen (stem help-), so with de steward (he) you say helpt.
Why do we use de for steward and passagiers instead of het?
Dutch nouns fall into two genders: de-words and het-words.
- Nouns ending in -er (like steward) are almost always de-words.
- All plurals, regardless of gender, also take de.
Since passagiers is plural, you use de passagiers.
What does met instappen mean, and why do we need met?
Met instappen literally means “with boarding” or “with getting on.” In Dutch you often say helpen met + noun (a verbal noun) to express “help with something.” Here instappen is treated like a noun (a “gerund”) after the preposition met, so the steward helps the passengers with boarding.
Is instappen a verb or a noun here? Why isn’t there a te in front of it?
In this sentence instappen is a nominalized infinitive (a “verbal noun”) following the preposition met. Because it functions like a noun, you do not use te. If it were a pure infinitive following helpen directly, you might see te, but with met + verbal noun there is no te.
Could you also say helpt de passagiers instappen without met?
Yes. Dutch helpen can take a bare infinitive directly, so helpt de passagiers instappen is grammatically possible, especially in casual speech. But many speakers prefer the clearer construction helpen met instappen.
What about helpt de passagiers in te stappen—is that correct? How does it differ?
Also correct. Here you use the separable verb instappen in infinitive form with te inserted:
- in is the separable prefix
- te stappen is the infinitive with te
So helpt de passagiers in te stappen means essentially the same. It’s a bit more formal or explicit about the verb structure than helpen met instappen.
Why does met instappen come after de passagiers and at the end of the sentence?
Dutch main clauses typically follow S-V-O order (Subject–Verb–Object). Prepositional or adverbial phrases (like met instappen) generally come after the direct object, unless they’re expressions of time or place placed up front for emphasis. Here, the steward (S) helps (V) the passengers (O), and then we add met instappen as the final phrase.