Learn Hardcore Dutch: De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst hardop lezen. - The teacher lets us read the word list out loud.

In a classroom context, De lerares laat ons … lezen most naturally means “The teacher has us read / makes us read.” If you want to express clear permission, you can also use mogen: We mogen de woordenlijst hardop lezen.

Why is lezen in the infinitive and at the end?

Because laten works like a modal/causative and takes a bare infinitive: person + infinitive (no conjugation). In main clauses, Dutch is verb-second: the finite verb laat sits in second position, and the remaining verb (lezen) goes to the end: De lerares [V2: laat] … [end: lezen].

Do I need te before lezen?

No. With laten, you use a bare infinitive: … laat ons … lezen (not: te lezen). Contrast with verbs like dwingen or proberen, which take te:

De lerares dwingt ons de woordenlijst hardop te lezen.

Where can hardop go, and what does it modify?

Hardop is an adverb meaning “out loud,” modifying lezen. Common placements:

De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst hardop lezen. (neutral, very common)
De lerares laat ons hardop de woordenlijst lezen. (also fine; slightly more focus on “out loud”) Saying … lezen hardop is only possible as an afterthought with a pause (for emphasis), and is less neutral.

What is ons doing here? Could it be we/wij?

Ons is the object pronoun “us.” You cannot use we/wij here because those are subject forms. Compare:

Wij lezen de woordenlijst hardop. (we = subject)
De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst hardop lezen. (us = object)

If it’s “them” instead of “us,” is it hen or hun?

Standard written Dutch uses hen as the object after laten:

De lerares laat hen de woordenlijst hardop lezen. Using hun here is nonstandard; hun is used as an indirect object without a preposition (and as a possessive). Colloquially you’ll also hear ze.

Why are there two objects (ons and de woordenlijst), and which comes first?

Causative laten often has two objects: the person who does the action (ons) and the thing acted upon (de woordenlijst). Dutch prefers the person (especially if it’s a pronoun) before the thing:

De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst … (natural)
De lerares laat de woordenlijst ons … (odd/unusual)

Why de with lerares and woordenlijst? Why not het?

Both lerares and woordenlijst are common gender (de-words), so they take de:

de lerares (“the [female] teacher”)
de woordenlijst (“the word list”) Indefinite: een woordenlijst. Note: woord is a het-word (het woord), but the head of the compound woordenlijst is lijst (a de-word), so the compound is also a de-word.

Why is woordenlijst one word?

Dutch compounds are written as a single word: woorden + lijst → woordenlijst. No space or hyphen is needed. Other examples: woordenschat, klaslokaal.

Could I use voorlezen or oplezen instead of lezen?

Different nuances:

lezen: read (silent or aloud). With hardop, you read aloud yourself.
voorlezen: read aloud to someone (the reader and listener are different).
oplezen: read out from a text (often suggests “reading it out verbatim,” sometimes a bit stiff).
For reciting from memory, use opzeggen. Your sentence means the students themselves are reading aloud, so lezen
- hardop is right:
De lerares leest ons de woordenlijst voor. = The teacher reads the word list to us.

Can this also mean “The teacher lets/allows us to read the word list out loud”?

Yes, context can make laten mean “allow.” But in a school setting, laat ons … lezen typically means “has us read.” To express permission unambiguously, use mogen or toestaan:

We mogen de woordenlijst hardop lezen.
De lerares staat ons toe de woordenlijst hardop te lezen.

How do I say it in the past or in the perfect?

Simple past: De lerares liet ons de woordenlijst hardop lezen.
Present perfect: De lerares heeft ons de woordenlijst hardop laten lezen. With causative laten followed by another verb, use laten (not gelaten) in the verb cluster: heeft … laten lezen.

What happens in a subordinate clause?

All verbs go to the end, and the auxiliary comes before the main infinitive:

… dat de lerares ons de woordenlijst hardop laat lezen.
… omdat de lerares ons de woordenlijst hardop laat lezen.

How would you negate it or say “not out loud”?

Place niet before what you’re negating:

Not out loud: De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst niet hardop lezen.
Not read at all: De lerares laat ons de woordenlijst niet lezen.
Contrastive (not the word list, but something else): De lerares laat ons niet de woordenlijst hardop lezen, maar de tekst.

Pronunciation tips?

De: schwa, like “duh.”
lerares: lay-rah-RES (stress on the last syllable).
laat: long aa, like “laht.”
ons: short o as in “boss,” n-s clearly pronounced.
woordenlijst: WOOR-den-lijst (oo like in “door,” ij like English “ay” in “day”).
hardop: HAR-dop; the d may sound like t, so it often sounds like “hartop.”
lezen: LAY-zen.

Is Laat ons … ever used to mean “Let’s …”?

Yes, in Belgian Dutch (Flemish) Laat ons … means “Let’s …”. In the Netherlands the standard is Laten we …. Your sentence cannot be read that way because it has the explicit subject De lerares.

Can I use maken instead of laten (e.g., “De lerares maakt ons … lezen”)?

No. Maken + bare infinitive is not used like English “make someone do.” Use:

laten for neutral causation/instruction: De lerares laat ons … lezen.
dwingen for forcing (with te): De lerares dwingt ons de woordenlijst hardop te lezen.