Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten?

Are you planning to join us for dinner tonight?

Breakdown of Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten?

• om: for
• u: you
• vanavond: tonight
• van plan zijn: to plan
• mee-eten: to join for dinner

Questions & Answers about Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten?

Why does the sentence start with Bent u instead of U bent?

In Dutch, yes–no questions usually start with the verb, then the subject:

• Statement: U bent van plan … → You are planning …
• Question: Bent u van plan …? → Are you planning …?

So the word order is:

1. Verb (Bent)
2. Subject (u)
3. Rest of the sentence (van plan om vanavond mee te eten)

This is called inversion and is standard for forming questions in Dutch, similar to English Are you …? versus You are ….

What is the difference between u and je/jij here?

U is the formal form of you in Dutch. It is used:

• With strangers
• In polite or professional situations
• With older people, if you want to be respectful (depending on context and culture)

Je/jij is the informal form of you, used:

• With friends
• With family
• With people your own age, in casual situations

So:

• Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten? → Formal
• Ben je van plan om vanavond mee te eten? → Informal

The rest of the sentence stays the same; only the verb form (bent vs ben) and the pronoun (u vs je) change.

What does the expression van plan zijn mean exactly?

Van plan zijn is a fixed expression meaning to plan to / to intend to.

Literally, it is to be of plan, but you should just learn it as a chunk:

• Ik ben van plan om Nederlands te leren.
  → I plan to learn Dutch / I intend to learn Dutch.

• Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten?
  → Are you planning to eat with us tonight?

The pattern is:

• [subject] + zijn (ben/bent/is) + van plan (om) + te + infinitive

So in your sentence:

• Bent = are (from zijn)
• u = you (formal)
• van plan = planning / intending
• om … te eten = to eat

Why is the present tense Bent u used for something in the future (tonight)?

Dutch often uses the present tense to talk about near future plans, especially when the time is clear from context:

• Ik ga morgen naar Amsterdam.
  Literally: I go tomorrow to Amsterdam.
  Meaning: I am going / will go to Amsterdam tomorrow.

In your sentence:

• vanavond (tonight) tells us it is about the future.
• Bent u van plan …? literally is Are you planning …?, which in English is also present but refers to future actions.

You could also say:

• Gaat u vanavond mee-eten? → Are you going to eat with us tonight?
  (More literally future‑sounding, but the original present tense sentence is completely natural.)

What is the purpose of om in om vanavond mee te eten? Is it necessary?

Om … te + infinitive is a common Dutch construction meaning in order to / to (do something) after certain verbs or expressions, including van plan zijn.

Patterns:

• Ik ben van plan om Nederlands te leren.
• Hij probeert om op tijd te komen. (many people also say this without om)

With van plan zijn, om is very common and natural, but often considered optional:

• Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten? (very natural)
• Bent u van plan vanavond mee te eten? (also possible; some people drop om in speech)

As a learner, it’s safe and correct to include om after van plan zijn.

What does mee te eten mean, and why is mee separate from eten?

Mee-eten is a separable verb:

• Base verb: eten = to eat
• Prefix: mee = along (with), together, along with others

Mee-eten means to eat along with others, to join (us/them) for a meal, not just to eat in general.

Because mee-eten is separable, it behaves like this:

• Infinitive (with te): mee te eten
• Present, main clause: Ik eet mee. (the prefix comes after the verb)
• Perfect: Ik heb meeggeten.

In your sentence:

• mee te eten = to join in eating / to eat with us

So the person is asking if you plan to join them for dinner, not just whether you will eat anything at all.

Could you say … om vanavond te eten instead of … om vanavond mee te eten?

Grammatically, om vanavond te eten is possible, but it changes the meaning:

• … om vanavond te eten
  → to eat tonight (in general; no explicit idea of joining others)

• … om vanavond mee te eten
  → to eat with us/them tonight (join in the shared meal)

In context, if someone invites you to dinner, mee eten is the natural verb because it implies joining their meal. Without mee, it sounds more like “are you planning to eat tonight?” (which is a bit odd unless you’re asking about whether someone will eat at all).

What exactly does vanavond mean, and how is it different from avond?

• Avond = evening
• Vanavond = this evening / tonight (the evening of today)

So vanavond already includes the idea of this. You usually don’t say deze avond the way you’d say “this evening” in English. Instead you normally use vanavond.

Examples:

• Ik werk vanavond. → I’m working tonight.
• Gisterenavond / gisteravond → yesterday evening.
• Morgenvond → tomorrow evening.

In your sentence:

• vanavond just specifies the time: tonight.

Why is vanavond placed before mee te eten and not at the end of the sentence?

Dutch word order in infinitive constructions is quite flexible with adverbs of time like vanavond.

All of these are possible in spoken Dutch:

1. Bent u van plan om vanavond mee te eten?
2. Bent u van plan om mee te eten vanavond?

The difference is mostly about emphasis and rhythm, not grammar:

• Position 1 (… om vanavond mee te eten) is very normal and neutral.
• Position 2 (… om mee te eten vanavond) is also correct and might put a slight emphasis on vanavond at the end.

As a learner, you can safely place time expressions like vanavond:

• After the first element of the verb phrase: om vanavond mee te eten
• Or at the very end: … mee te eten vanavond

Why is there te before eten?

In Dutch, after certain verbs and expressions, you use te + infinitive, similar to “to” + verb in English:

• Ik probeer te slapen. → I’m trying to sleep.
• Hij hoopt te winnen. → He hopes to win.
• We hebben besloten te blijven. → We have decided to stay.

In your sentence:

• van plan zijn (om) te + infinitive is the pattern.
• So you get: van plan om … te eten.

Te is just the marker that an infinitive verb is coming in this construction: te eten = to eat.

How would the sentence look in an informal version with je instead of u?

Informal version:

• Ben je van plan om vanavond mee te eten?

Changes:

• Bent → Ben (because the subject changes from u to je)
• u → je

Everything else stays the same. Another very common informal alternative is actually shorter:

• Eet je vanavond mee? → Are you eating with us tonight? / Are you joining us for dinner tonight?

Is there a shorter, more casual way to ask the same thing in Dutch?

Yes, very common shorter alternatives are:

• Formal:
  Eet u vanavond mee?
  (Still polite, but shorter and more direct.)

• Informal:
  Eet je vanavond mee?
  → This is probably what you will hear most among friends/family.

These drop the van plan om te structure and just use the main verb directly: eet … mee?

Is mee-eten different from opeten or just eten?

Yes, they are different:

• eten = to eat (general action)

  • Ik eet. → I eat / I am eating.

• mee-eten = to eat along with others, to join someone else’s meal

  • Ik eet vanavond bij Piet mee. → I’m eating at Piet’s (with him) tonight.

• opeten = to eat up, to finish eating something completely

  • Eet je bord op. → Eat up your plate / Finish your food.

So in mee te eten, the focus is joining others at their meal, which fits the context of inviting someone to dinner.