Learn Hardcore Dutch: Mijn huisgenoot kookt vanavond soep. - My housemate is cooking soup tonight.

Because soep is used as an uncountable (mass) noun here, just like English uses article-less mass nouns (e.g., cooks soup, drinks water). If you mean a specific soup, use the definite article: de soep. A portion or a type can take an article: een tomatensoep, een soepje (a bowl of soup, informal). In Belgium, een soep for “a soup (starter)” is also common in restaurant contexts.

Could I also express the future with gaat or zal?

Yes:

Mijn huisgenoot gaat vanavond soep koken. (going to; planned/intended)
Mijn huisgenoot zal vanavond soep koken. (will; prediction/promise) Dutch often uses the present with a time word for near future, so the original is very natural. All three are correct; nuance differs slightly.

Why is the verb in second position in Mijn huisgenoot kookt vanavond soep?

Dutch main clauses are verb-second (V2): one constituent comes first (here, the subject Mijn huisgenoot), and the finite verb (kookt) comes next. If you front something else, the verb still stays second: Vanavond kookt mijn huisgenoot soep. In subordinate clauses, the finite verb goes to the end: ... dat mijn huisgenoot vanavond soep kookt.

Where can I put vanavond in this sentence?

All are grammatical, with slight differences in emphasis:

Mijn huisgenoot kookt vanavond soep. (neutral; time early)
Mijn huisgenoot kookt soep vanavond. (neutral to mild emphasis on what is cooked)
Vanavond kookt mijn huisgenoot soep. (emphasis on the time “tonight”) Choose based on what you want to highlight.

Does huisgenoot mean roommate or housemate?

More like housemate/flatmate: someone who shares your house/apartment. If you literally share a room, kamergenoot fits better. You’ll also see huisgenoot used for any cohabiting person (not a landlord).

What are the grammatical genders and articles for huisgenoot and soep?

Both are common-gender (de-words):

singular: de huisgenoot, de soep
plural: de huisgenoten Soep is usually mass (no plural). A plural soepen exists for different kinds (e.g., “winterse soepen”), but it’s less common.

Why does the verb have a -t in kookt?

Present-tense agreement: third-person singular takes -t.

ik kook
jij/je kookt (but in inversion: kook jij?)
hij/zij/het kookt
wij/jullie/zij koken With polite u, keep -t: kookt u.

Does koken mean “to cook” or “to boil”?

Both, depending on context:

Transitive: soep koken = to cook soup.
Intransitive: Het water kookt = the water is boiling. Context and objects decide the meaning.

Can I use maken instead of koken?

Yes. Soep maken is very idiomatic (to make soup). Soep koken is also fine and focuses on the cooking/boiling process. In everyday speech, both are common; maken is the more general verb.

How do I negate this sentence correctly?

Negate the noun (no soup): Mijn huisgenoot kookt vanavond geen soep.
Negate the action (not cooking at all): Mijn huisgenoot kookt vanavond niet. Use geen to negate an indefinite noun; use niet to negate verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, or definite nouns already specified.

Can I front soep for emphasis?

You can, but it’s marked and needs contrastive stress:

Soep kookt mijn huisgenoot vanavond. (as opposed to, say, pasta) In neutral speech, keep the object after the verb (and optionally after the time adverb): ... kookt (vanavond) soep.

Is vanavond one word?

Yes. It’s a single word, like vandaag (today) and vanmiddag (this afternoon). Don’t write van avond as two words.

How do I replace de soep with a pronoun?

Because soep is a de-word, use the demonstrative die for a specific soup:

Mijn huisgenoot kookt die vanavond. Avoid het here; that pronoun matches neuter nouns, not de-words. For general, unspecified “some soup,” Dutch typically doesn’t use a simple object pronoun.

How does this look in a subordinate clause?

Ik weet dat mijn huisgenoot vanavond soep kookt. Subordinate clauses are verb-final: the finite verb (kookt) goes to the end.

Is deze avond acceptable instead of vanavond?

It’s possible but less idiomatic in the Netherlands for everyday speech. Vanavond is the default. Deze avond is more formal or more common in Belgian Dutch.

Any quick pronunciation tips for tricky sounds?

ui in mijn huisgenoot: a rounded diphthong, roughly like French œ
- English y: [œy].
oe in soep: like the vowel in English “soup,” but shorter: [u].
oo in kookt: long o: [oː].
g in huisgenoot: fricative; in NL often a harsher , in Flanders a softer [ɣ].
Final -t in kookt is pronounced; cluster [kt] is audible.
v in vanavond is a real [v] (not an English f).

What if there are multiple housemates?

Make the subject plural and adjust the verb:

Mijn huisgenoten koken vanavond soep.

How do I say this in the past or perfect tense?

Simple past: Gisteren kookte mijn huisgenoot soep.
Present perfect: Mijn huisgenoot heeft soep gekookt. Auxiliary is hebben for most subjects: heeft (he/she), hebben (we/they).

How do I specify a type or portion of soup?

Type: tomatensoep, kippensoep, erwtensoep.
Portion: een kom soep, een kop soep, een soepje (NL, casual).
Quantity: twee pannen soep (two pots of soup).

What’s the guideline for ordering time, manner, and place?

For adverbials, Dutch likes Time–Manner–Place: e.g., ... vanavond met plezier in de keuken .... The direct object (soep) isn’t a time/manner/place element. In practice, both kookt vanavond soep and kookt soep vanavond are common; putting a short time word like vanavond right after the verb sounds very natural. Use fronting to highlight what matters most.